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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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23  WFST  MAIN  STREET 

V'EBSTfcR,  NY.  14580 

(71ft)  372-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  IHistorical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  canadien  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
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reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pelliculde 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

□    Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  g^ographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
ere  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


D 
D 


□ 


D 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relid  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

Lareliure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
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II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
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mats,  lorsque  cela  dtait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  filmdes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
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L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
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une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m^thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquds  ci-dessous. 


I      I    Coloured  pages/ 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
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Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pellicul6es 


I      I    Pages  damaged/ 

I      I    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 


y 


D 
D 

n 


Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d^colordes,  tachetdes  ou  piqu6es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d6tach6es 

Showthrough/ 
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obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmd  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 

I     I     I     I    I     |y|     I     I     I    I     I    I     I 


26X 


SOX 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  gererosity  of: 

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L'exemplaire  filmi  fut  reproduit  grAce  d  la 
g6n6roslt6  de: 

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filming  contract  specifications. 


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plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  l'exemplaire  film6,  et  an 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illi'strated  impres- 
sion, or  the  ba«^k  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  capias  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  enriing  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Les  enemplaires  criginaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimis  sont  filmis  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmds  en  commen9ant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniftrs  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmis  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich6,  il  est  filmd  d  partir 
de  Tangle  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  lie  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'in  ages  nicessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illusti-ent  la  mithode. 


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THE  LIBRARY 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 
BRITISH  COLUMBIA 

Gift  of 
The  Friends  of  the  Library 

Thomas  Murray  Collection 


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AN 


EXPOSITION 


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THE  extravai^ant  pretentions  of  the  British  com-! 
tnissioners  at  Ghent— their  assertiun  ol  a  righi  to  inter- 
lerc  with  the  territorial   dominion    established   at  the 
peace  of  1783 — their^attempt  to  assert  that  the  Indians 
lesiding  on  oil/   soil  were  entitled  to    form  alliances, 
and  be  treated  as  a  civiiiiied  people,  under  the  laws  of 
civil  society  to  which  the  Indian  tribes  are  strangers-— 
the  attenapt  to  cut  off'  a  section  o^"  our  territory,  under 
the  pretext  of  a  road  between  Canada   and   Nova  Sco- 
tia, tor  which  there  would  be  no  need  in  peace,  and 
t^•hich  would  afford  them  an  inroad  upon  us  duiing  war 
*--their  occupancy  of  part  of  Mafesacliusetts  unmolest- 
ed by  the  Stale  authority — their  know»  designs  on  Or- 
leans: all  these  and  other  facts  known  to  the   govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,left  little  prospect  of  a  peace 
iin  the  early  part  of  the   present  year ;  it  is  believed 
that  the  government  was  apprized  in  the  course  of  the 
last  year,  that  peace  coiild  have  been  accomplished  in 
August  1814,  were  it  not  for  the  tncouragement  which 
the  British  government  recelK^ed   from  three  of  the 
Eastern  states  to  persevere  in^e  war. — In  these  views, 
the  Executive  had  determined  to  make  a  full  and  final 
appeal  to  the  American  people,  and   by  presenting  at 
one  view  to  the  cbtmtry  the  catises  aiid  the  progress  of 
the  war,  shew  the  necessity  of  stich   mighty   and  efl\- 
cient  preparations  for  the  campaign  of  this  year,  as 
tvould  assure  its  successftil  and  triumphant  termination 
by  the  cer||in  expulsion  of  the  enemy  from  all  his  pos- 
sessions dii  tliis  continent.     The  measure  proposed  by 
the  Secretaty  of  War  for  raising   100,000  men,  was 
part  of  this  plan  of  vigorous  measures ;  and  a  declar- 
ation ©r  exposition  T^as  prepared  to  go  to  the  public. 
This  able  paper  was  ready  for  publication,   when   the 
advices  of  a  peace  b'eh*g  conctoded  were  r-jceived.    A 
copy  of  it  ha8  accidentally  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
editor  of  the  Aurorii,  afid  Rethink  we  can  do  no  better 
service  than  give  it  to  the  public,  as  the  best  means  of 
reptlHng  the  ribaldry  issued  by  .those  whose  chagria 
IS  excited  to  the  greatest  extravagance  by  the  s^cces^- 
ifml  and  glorious  terxnination  of  the  war. 


AN  EXPOSITION 


"^-^/■HATEYF.U  muvbe  the  torminatien  of  (he 
Tt  nei:jociations  atGhcnf,  the  dispatches  ot* 
the  imerican  comtnissioncrs,  >vhff.h  have  heeii 
coirummicalecl  by  fho  I'resldenf  of  the  United 
Stfites  to  the  C<)n.^rcss,  during  the  present  session, 
will  distinctly  unfohl,  to  the  impartial  ot*  all  na- 
tions, the  objects  and  dispositious  of  the  pnities 
to  the  present  war. 

The  United  States,  relieved  by  the  general  pa- 
ciilcation  of  the  treaty  of  Paris,  from  the  danger 
of  actual  sufferance,  under  the  evils  ^hieh  had 
compelled  them  to  resort  to  arm?,  have  avowed 
their  readiness  to  resume  the  relations  of  peaca 
and  amity  with  Great-Britain,  upon  the  simple 
And  single  condition  of  preserving tlieir  territory 
and  their  sovereignty  entire  and  unimpuired. 
Their  desire  of  peace,  indeed  *<  upon  terms  of  re- 
ciprocity, consistent, with  t-.e  rights  of  both  par- 
ties, as  sovereign  and  independent  nations^"^  has 
not,  at  any  time,  been  inflnenced  by  the  provoca- 
tions of  an  unprecedented  course  of  hostiliti 


f»kj  » 


by  the  incitements  of  a  successful  eampaii^n  ;  or 
hy  the  agitations  which  have  seemed  aj^iin  to 
threaten  the  tranquillity, of  Europe. 

But  the  British  government,  after  a  ^*  discus- 
sion with  the  .i^overnment  of  Ameriea,  foi^  ih^ 
conciliatory  adjustment  of  the  differcKces  sub- 
sistin;:;  between  the  two  states,   with   an  earnest 

desire,  on  their  part,  (as  it  was  alleged)  to  bring 

»  ^"  .  '   ' 

*See  Mr.  Monroe'a  letter  to  lord  CaUlereagh,  dated 


i 


m 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


them  to  a  favorable  issne^  upon  principles  of  a 
perf4;ct  recipracity^  not  ineonsisten^  with  estab- 
lished maxlois  of  public  ]aw>  and  with  the  mari- 
time rights  of  the  British  empire,"*  and  after 
*'  expressly  disclaiming  any  intention  to  acquire 
an  increase  of  territory ,''f  have  peremptorily  de- 
manded, as  the  price  of  peace,  concessions  calcu- 
lated merely  for  their  own  aggrandizement,  and 
for  the  humiliation  of  their  adversary.  At  one 
time,  they  proposed,  as  their  sine  qua  non,  a  stip- 
ulation, that  the  Indians,  inhabiting  the  country 
of  the  United  States,  within  the  limits  establish- 
ed by  the  treaty  of  1783,  should  be  included  as 
the  allies  of  Great  Britain  (a  party  to  that  trea- 
ty) in  the  projected  pacification  ;  and  that  definite 
boundaries  should  be  settled  for  the  Indian  tcrri- 
toi7,  upon  a  basis,  which  would  have  operated  ^o 
surrender,  to  a  num^ber  of  Indians,  not,  probably, 
exceeding  a  few  thousands,  the  rights  of  sove- 
reignty, as  well  as  of  soil,  over  nearly  one  third 
of  the  territorialdominions  of  the  United  States, 
inhabited  by  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  of 
its  oitizens4  Aad,  more  reeently  (withdrawing, 
in  effect,  that  proposition)  they  have  offered  to 
treat  on  the  b^sis  of  the  nli  pomdelis;  when,  by 

*Seelord  Casticrcagh's  letter  to  rSlr.  Monroe,  dated 
the  4th  of  November  1813. 

f  See  the  American  dispatch,  dated  the  12th  August, 
1814. 

^See  the  American  dispatches,  dated  the  12th  and  19th 
Angust,  1814  ;  the  note  of  the  British  commissioners, 
dated  the  19th  of  August,  1814  ;  the  note  of  the  Ameri- 
can commissioners,  dated  the  21st  day  of  August,  1814; 
thenoteof  the  British  commissirners*  dutcd  the  4th  of 
September,  1814  ;  the  note  of  the  American  commission- 
ersof  the  9th  of  September,  l&H  ;  the  note  of  the  Brit- 
ish commissioners,  dated  the  19  h  of  Sept.  1814;  the 
note  of  the  American  commissioners,  dated  the  26th  of 
Sept.  1814  ;  t*  e  note  of  the  British  commissioners,  dat- 
ed the  8th  of  0^:t.  1814;  and  the  note  of  the  Americac 
commissioHers,  of  the  18th  of  October,  1814. 


111 

sti 

C( 

on 


*4i*i»~M..- 


as 


AMERICAN  EX:pOSE.  s 

the  oppfations  of  the  war,  tho^v  had  obtained  tlie 
miliUry  jiosscssion  of  an  imi>ortiin^  part  of  I  ho 
state  of  Massachusflts,  wliich,  it  was  known, 
could  never  be  tlie  subjecl  of  a  cession,  eonsist- 
©ntly  with  the  honor  and  faith  of  the  Anierioaii 
governnipnt.*  Thus  it  is  obvious,'  thut  Great 
Britain,  neither  regarding  **  the  prineijilis  of  u 
perfect  reeipro(  ly,"  nor  Ihe  iiile  of  her  own 
practice  and  professions,  has  indulgt^d  pretensions, 
which  could  only  be  heard,  in  order  <o  be  rejec- 
ted. The  alternative,  either  vindicHvely  to  pro- 
tract the  war,  or  henouablj  to  end  it,  has  been 
fairly  given  to  her  option  ;  bat  she  waiits  iho 
magnanimity  to  decide,  while  her  apprehensions 
are  awakened,  for  the  resuit  of  the  eonfjjress  at 
Tienna,  and  her  hopes  are  flnttered,  by  fho 
schemesofconqoest  in  America. 

There  are  periods  in  tlic  tran'^aetions  of  every 
country,  as  well  as  in  the  life  <»f  every  individuaiv 
when  self-exanii«jalion  becomes  a  duty  of  the 
highest  moral  obi  illation  ;  when  tfie  govf/inment 
of  a  fr»*e  people,  driven  from  the  pa(h  of  peace, 
and  baffled  in  every  effort  to  regain  it,  may  resort, 
for  consolation,  to  the  conscious  rectitude  of  its  * 
Ijrieasures.  and  when  an  appeal  to  manklad  foun- 
ded upon  truth  and  justice,  cannot  fail  to  engago 
those  sympathies,  by  which  even  nations  are  1e*l 
to  participate  in  the  fame  and  fortunes  of  each 
other. — The  United  States,  under  these  impres- 
sions, are  neither  insensible  to  the  advantages, 
nor  to  the  duties  of  their  peculiar  situatioD. 
They  have  but  recently,  as  it  wf  re,  establisiied 
Iheir  independence  ;  and  the  volume  of  their  na- 
tional history  lies  open,  at  a  glance,  to  every  eye, 

*See  t^ic  Bote  of  the  British  commissioners,  dated  the 
21st  ot  Octobe-^  1814 ;  the  note  <^f  the  American  com- 
missioners, dat.%  the  24tli  of  October,  1814;  and  the 
note  of  the  British  commisuoners,  dated  the  SUi  of  Oc^ 
%<3i3?ir,  IS14. 

A2  - 


mi 


i 

i 


f 


I 


6 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


K^ 


5     I 

iti 


■\ 


y 


The  policy  of  their  government,  therefore,  v/htki- 
ever  it  hasheen^in  tlieir  foreign  as  well  as  in  their 
<3omestio  relations,  it  is  impossihie  to  eoneeal  ; 
and  it  must  he  diflicuit  to  mistake.  Jf  the  assel*- 
lion,  that  it  lias  been  made  a  policy  to  preserve 
peace  and  amity  with  all  the  nations  of  the  worlds 
lie  doubted,  the  proofs  arc  at  band.  If  the  asser- 
tion, that  it  has  been  a  policy  to  maintain  the 
rights  of  the  United  States,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  to  respect  the  rights  of  every  other  nation^ 
be  doubted,  the  proofs  will  be  found  on  record, 
even  in  the  archives  of  England  and  of  France. 
And  if,  in  fine,  the  assertion,  that  it  has  been 
made  a  policy  by  all  honorable  means,  to  cultivate 
^ith  Great-Britain,  those  sentiments  of  mutual 
goodwill,  which  naturally  belong  to  nations  con- 
nected by  the  ties  of  a  common  ancestry,  an  iden- 
tity of  language,  and  a  similarity  of  manners,  be 
doubted,  the  pruofs  will  be  found  in  that  patient 
forbearance,  under  the  pressure  of  accumulating 
'wrongs,  :vhieh  marks  the  period  of  almost  thirty 
year  bat  elapsed  between  the  peace  of  1783, 
and  tLv  rupture  of  1812. 

The  United  States  had  just  recovered,  under 
the  auspices  of  their  present  constitution,  from 
the  debility  which  their  revolutionary  struggle 
bad  produced,  when  the  convulsive  movements  of 
France  exeited  throughout  the  eivilized  world  the 
soingled  sensations  of  hope  and  fear — of  admira- 
tion and  alarm.  The  interest  which  those  move- 
ments, would  in  themselves,  have  excited,  was  in- 
calculably increase^y  however,  as  soon  as  Great 
Britain  became  a  party  to  the  first  memorable 
coalition  against  France,  and  assumed  the  ehar- 
ncter  of  a  belligerent  power,  for  it  was  obvious, 
that  the  difierenee  ef  the  scene  would  no  longer 
exempt  the  United  States  from  thelnfluence,  and 
the  evils  of  the  European  conflict.  On  the  one 
band;  their   government   was    conneeted   with 


nl 
l( 

81 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


France,  by  treaties  of  alliance  and  commeree  ; 
and  the  services  \vhieh  that  nation  had  rendered 
to  the  cause  of  American  independence,  had  made 
such  impressions  upon  the  public  raind,  as  no  vir- 
tuous statesmen  could  rjg\6\y  condemn,  and  the 
most  rigorous  statemen  would  have  sought  in  vain 
to   efface.      On  the   other  hand,   Great  Britain 
leaving  the  treaty  of  1783  unexecuted,  forcibly 
retained  the  American  posts  upon  (he  northern 
frontier  ;  and,  slighting  every   overture  to  place 
the  diplomatic  and  commercial   relations  of  the 
two   countries,  upon  a  fair  and  friendly  founda- 
tion,* st)emed  to  contemplate  the  success  of  the 
American  revolution,  in  a  spirit  of  unextinguioh- 
able  animosity.     Her  voice  had  indeed  been  heard 
from  Quebec  and  Montreal,  instigating  the  sava- 
ges to  war.f     Her  invisible  arm  was  ftit,  in  tho 
defeat  of  General  Harmer:j:  and  General  St  Clair,$ 
and  even   the  victory  of  General   Waynejl   was 
achieved  in  the  presence  of  a  fort  which  she  had 
erected,  far  within  the  territorial  boundaries   of 
the  United  States,  to  stimulate  and  countenance 
the  barbarities  of  the  Indian  warrior.^    Yet  the 
Amencan  government,  neither  yielding  to  popu- 
lar feeling,  nor  acting  upon  the  impulse  of  national 
resentment,  hastened    to  adopt  the  policy  of  a. 
strict  and  steady  neutrality ;  and   solemnly  an- 
nounced that  policy  to  the  eitizens  at  home,  and 
to  the  nations  abroad,  by  the  proclaiifiation  of  the 
^2d  of  April,  1793. — "Whatever  may  have  been  the 

*See  Mr.  Adams*  correspondence. 

f  See  the  Speeches  of  Lord  Dorchester. 

iOn  the  waters  of  the  Miami  of  the  Lake,  on  the- 
2UtOct.  1790. 

§  At  Fort  Recovery,  on  the  4th  November  1791. 

IJOnthe  Miami  of  the  Lakes,  in  August,  1794.  > 

f  See  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Randolph, 
the  American  secretary  of  State,  and  Mr.  HammoBd, 
the  Bijitish  plenipotentiary,  dated  May  and  June,  JT94; 


1 

»' 


i^,' 


M 

.,';« 


flc      ^  AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 

trials  of  lis  ptido,  ami  of  iis  fortitude  ;  wlintcvei^ 
inuy  liave  been  the  irnputrt^ioiis  upon  i(s  tidelity, 
atid  its  honoi\  it  will  bo  demonstruted  in  the  se- 
quel, that  (he  American  j^overnment,  (hroiij^hout 
the  fiwi'opeati  eontest,  and  amidst  all  (be  (ihan;^es 
of  the  objects,  and  the  parties  that  have  been  in- 
volved in  that  contest,  have  infiexihly  adhered  t(* 
the  principles  >vhieh  were  thus  authoritiveiy  es- 
tablished, to  regulate  the  conduct  of  the  United 
States. 

It  was  reasonable  to  expect  that  a  proclama- 
tion of  neuti'alif^,  issued  under  the  eireumstanees 
whieh  have  been  described,  would  command  (he 
confidence  and  respect  of  Great  Britain*  however 
offensive  it  mif.'ht  prove  to  France,  as  contraven- 
ing essentially,  (he  exposiiion  which  she  was  anx- 
ious to  bestow  on  the  treaties  of  commerce  and 
alliance.  But  experience  has  sliown,  that  (he 
confidence  and  respect  of  Great  Brii.iin  are  not  to 
be  ac/quired,  by  such  aets  of  impartiality  and  in- 
dependence. Under  every  administration  of  th(3 
American  government,  the  experiment  has  been 
made,  and  the  experitnent  has  bren  equally  un- 
successful :  for  it  was  not  more  effectually  ascer- 
tained in  (he year  1812,  than  at  antecedent  periods, 
that  an  exemption  from  the  maritime  usurpation, 
and  the  commercial  monopoly,  of  Great  Britain, 
eeuld  only  be  obtained  upon  the  condition  nf  be- 
coming an  associate,  in  her  enmitic  s  and  her 
wars.  Wliile  the  proclat^mtion  of  neutrality  was 
still  in  tlie  view  of  the  British  minister,  an  order 
of  the  8th  of  June,  1793,  issue*!  from  the  ♦abiner, 
by  virtue  of  uhich,  *•  ail  vessels  loaded  wholly,  or 
in  part,  with  corn,  (lour,  or  meal,  bound  to  any 
port  in  France,  or  any  port  occupied  by  the  arm- 
ies of  France,"  wefe  required  to  be  carried,  forc- 
ibly into  England  ;  and  the  cargoeg  weie  either 
to  be  sold  there,  or  security  was  to  be  given,  that 
they  should  be  ^oUl  in  the  ports  of  a  country  only  in 


AMERICAN  JEXPOSE 


9^ 


amily  wHIi  his  Britnnnio  majesty.*  The  moral 
character  of  an  avowed  design,  to  inilict  ramino 
vpon  the  wholo  of  the  French  people^  was^  at  that 
tittit)  propef  ly  estimated  throughout  tho  civilized 
viTorld;  and  so  glaring  an  infraction  of  neutral 
rights,  as  the  British  order  was  calculated  to  pro- 
duce, did  not  escape  the  severities  of  diplomatio 
animadversion  and  rei  .onstranoe. — But  this  ag- 
gression was  soon  followed  by  another  of  a  more 
hostile  cast.  In  the  war  of  1756,  Great  Britain 
had  endeavored  to  establish  the  rule,  that  neutral 
nations  were  not  entitled  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of 
a  trade  with  the  colonies  of  a  belligerent  power^ 
from  which,  in  the  seasim  of  peace,  they  were 
excluded  by  the  parent  staie. —  The  rule  stands 
without  positive  support  from  any  general  au- 
thority on  public  law.  If  it  be  tnie,  that  some 
treaties  contain  stipulations,  by  which  the  parties 
expressly  exclude  each  other  from  the  commerce 
of  their  respective  colonies  :  and  if  it  be  true,  that 
the  ordinanoes  of  a  particular  state  often  provide 
for  the  exclusive  enjoyment  of  it9  colonial  com- 
merce ;  still  Great  Britain  cannot  be  authorised 
to  deduce  the  rule  of  the  war  of  1756,  by  impli- 
cation, from  such  treaties  and  such  ordinances, 
while  it  is  not  true,  that  the  rule  forms  a  part  of 
the  law  of  nations;  nor  thai  it  has  been  adopted 
by  any  other  government ;  nor  that  even  Great 
Britain  herself  has  uniformly  practised  upon  the 
rule  ;  since  its  application  Avas  unknown  from  the 
war  of  1756,  until  ihe  French  war  of  1792,  in- 
cluding the  entire  period  of  the  American  war 

Let  it  be,  argumentativoly  allowed,  however,  that 
Groat  Britain  possessed  the  right,  as  well  as  the 
power,  to  revive  and  enforce  the  rule  ;  yet,  the 
time  and  the  manner  of  exercising  the  powco 

*  See  the  order  of  the  8th  of  June,  1793,  and  the  re- 
monstrance of  the  American  of  government. 


m 


i, 


\ 


to 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE, 


:.. 


^! 


.V 


would  afford  Jiini>lc  cause  for  reproach.  TJie  cif- 
izeus  ot*  (liv  United  Slates  had  openly  engaged  in 
an  extensive  trade  with  the  Fiench  isiuuds,  in  the 
AVest  Juditfs^  ignorant  of  the  alleged  existence  of 
the  I'ule  of  the  war  of  1756,  or  unapprised  of  any 
intention  to  call  it  into  action,  when  the  order  of 
the  6th  ot  Novemher,  1793,  was  silently  circula- 
ted uuiong  the  British  cruizers,  consignini^  to  le- 
gal adjudication,  "  all  vessels  loaden  wilfi  goods, 
the  protluee  of  any  colony  of  France,  or  carrying 
provisions  or  supplies,  for  the  use  oi' any  such  col- 
ony."'* A  great  portion  of  the  commerce  of  the 
Uoitrd  States  was  thus  annifniated  at  a  blow  ^  the 
amicable  dispositions  of  the  government  were 
again  disreg nded  and  contemned,  the  sensibility 
of  the  nation  was  excited  to  a  high  degree  of  re- 
sentment,  by  the  apparent  treachery  of  the  Brit- 
ish order ;  and  a  recourse  to  reprisals,  or  to  war, 
for  indemnity  and  redress,  seemed  to  be  unavoid- 
able. But  the  love  of  Justice  had  established  the 
law  of  neutrality  j  and  the  love  of  peace  taught  a 
lesson  of  forbearr«nce.  The  American  go?erai» 
nient,  therefore,  rising  superior  to  the  provoca- 
tions and  the  passions  of  the  day,  instituted  a  spec- 
ial mission,  to  represent  at  the  court  of  London, 
the  injuries  and  the  indignities  whieh  it  had  suf- 
fered, *<  to  vindicate  its  rights  wi(h  firmness,  and 
to  «ultivate  peace  with  sincerity."!  The  immo- 
diate  result  of  this  mission,  was  a  treaty  of  amity, 
commeree,  and  navigation,  between  the  United 
States  and  GB'cat  Britain,  which  was  signed  by 
the  negociators  on  the  19i\i  of  November,  179i, 
and  finally  ratified,  withthe  consent  of  the  Senate, 
io  the  year  1795.     But  both   the  niissioa  and  its 

♦Seethe  British  orders  ©fthe  GthofNov.  1793. 

fSec  the  presic'ent's  message  to  the  senate,  of  the 
16th  of  April,  1794,  nominating  Mr.  Jay  as  en^jfoy 
extraordinary  to i>is  Britanmc  majesty. 


AMEKICAN  EXPOSE. 


Vesnlt,  serve,  also,  to  display  ibe  independrnce 
and  the  irQpariialii^'  of  theAmeriean  government^ 
in  asserting  its  rights  and  {lerforniing  its  duties^ 
equally  utiuwed  and  unbiassed  by  the  instruments 
of  beiiigereht  power,  or  persuasion. 

On  th«  foundation  of  this  treaty  the  United 
States,  in  a  pur^  spirit  of  good  faith  and  confi- 
denee,  raised  th«i  hope  and  the  expectation^  that 
the  maritime  usurpations  of  Great  Britain  uould 
^ease  to  annoy  th^m  ;  (hat  all  doubtful  claims  of 
jurisdiction  would  be  suspended  *,  and  that  even 
the  exercise  of  an  incontestable  right  wouliS  be 
60  modified,  aft  to  present  neither  insult,  nor  out> 
irage,  nor  ioconvenienee,  to  their  flag,  or  to  their 
commerce.  But  the  hope  and  the  expectation  of 
the  United  States  have  been  fatally  disappointed^ 
Some  relaxation  in  the  ri^or>  \fithout  any  altera- 
tion in  the  principle,  of  the  order  in  council  of 
the  6th  of  November/ 1^93,  Was  introduced  by  the 
subseijuent  orders  of  the  8th  of  Jan.  1794,  and  thd 
25th  Jan.  17^8  :  Imt  from  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty  of  1794<,  until  the  short  respite  afforded  by 
the  treaty  of  Amieris,  in  lS02,the  commerce  of  th€$ 
United  States  continued  to  be  the  prey  of  British 
eruiKersand  privateers,  under  the  af)j<idicating 
patronage  of  the  British  tribunals.— Another 
grievance,  hovreVer,  assumed  at  this  epochs  st 
form  and  magnitude,  which  cast  a  shade  over  the 
social  happiness^  as  well  as  the  political  indepen- 
dence of  the  nation.  The  merohatit  vessels  of 
the  United  States  were  arrefited  on  the  high  seas^ 
While  in  the  prosecution  of  distant  voyages  ;  con- 
sidcrab':^  numbers  t;f  their  crews  were  impre»sed 
into  the  naval  servio«  of  Great  Britain ;  the 
commercial  adventures  of  the  owner*  were  of- 
ten^  consequently,  defeated  y  ami  the  loss  of  pro** 
perty,  the  enibarrassments  of  ifade  and  naviga- 
gation,  and  the  scene  of  domestie  affliction,  life- 
time iatolerable*    This  grievance  (which  consti- 


%^ 


'4'S 


43 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE.. 


■ ;  -  : 


tutes  an  important  surviving  eause  of' the  AtnetU 
eani!eciaru(ion  of  ^var)  was  early,  and  has  been 
]!3tfessantly»  urged  upon  the  attention  of  the  Brit- 
ish government.  Even  in  the  year  1792,  they 
were  told  of  <<  the  irritation  that  it  had  excelled  $ 
and  of  Che  difficaliy  of  avoiding  to  make  imme- 
diate reprisals  en  their  seamen  in  the  United 
States.***  They  were  told  «« that  so  many  instan^- 
ces  of  the  kind  had  happened,  that  it  \vas  quite 
necessary  tliat  they  should  explain  themselves  on 
the  subject,  and  be  led  to  disavow  and  punish 
sueh  violence,  which  had  never  been  ejiperien- 
ced  from  any  other  nation.*'!  And  they  were 
told  of  <<  the  inconvenience  of  such  conduct,  and 
of  the  impossibility  of  letting  it  go  on,  so  that 
the  British  ministry  should  be  made  sensible  oi 
the  necessity  of  punishing  the  past,  and  prevent- 
ing the  future.":^ — But  afier  the  treaty  of  amity> 
eommerce,  and  navigation,  had  been  ratified,  the 
nature  and  the  extent  of  the  grievance  became 
still  more  manifest  ;  and  it  was  clearly  and  firm- 
ly presented  to  the  view  of  the  British  governnient> 
as  leading  unavoidably  to  discord  and  war  between 
the  two  nations*  They  were  told,  "  that  unless 
they  would  come  to  some  accommodation  which 
might  ensure  the  American  seamen  against  this 
oppression,  measures  would  be  taken  to  cause  the 
inconvenience  to  be  equally  felt  on  both  sides."^ 
They  were  to!dj «  that  the  impressment  of  A- 
merican  citizens^  to  serve  on  board  of  British 

♦See  the  letter  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  secretary  of  state, 
to  Mr.  Pinkney,  minister  at  London^  dated  Uth  of 
June,  1792. 

^  f  See  tJie  letter  from  the  satn'e  to  the  same,  iiated  the 
13th  ot  October,  1792.  • 

tSee  the  letter  from  the  same  to  the  same,  Jated 
the  6th  of  November,  179fi. 

JSee  the  letter  from  Mr.  Pinkney,  minister  at  Lon« 
Boa,  to  the  fceoretary  of  state,  d&ted  13th  March,  179^0 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


13 


ATnied  TesselS)  vfus  not  only  aa  injary  to  the  un- 
fortunate inyividuals,  but  it  naturally  excited 
eertaio  emotions  in  tbe  breasts  of  the  nation  to 
whom  they  belongs  and  the  just  and  humane  of 
%yery  country  ;  and  that  an  expeetation  ^as  in- 
dulged that  orders  would  be  given,  that  the  A- 
inericans  so  circumstanced,  should  be  immediate- 
ly liberated,  and  that  the  British  officers  should, 
in  future,  abstain  from  similar  violences.''^ 
They  were  told,  *'  that  the  subject  was  of  much 
greater  importance  than  had  been  supposed  :  and 
that,  instead  of  a  few,  and  those  in  many  instan- 
ces equivocal  cases,  the  American  minister  at  tbe 
court  of  London  had,  in  nine  months  (part  of 
the  years  1796  and  1797)  made  applications  for 
the  discharge  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-one 
seamen  who  had,  in  most  cases,  exhibited  such 
evidence,  as  to  satisfy  him  that  they  \yere  real  A- 
merieansyforced  intotheBritish  service,and  perse- 
vering, generally,  in  refusing  pay  and  bounty."! 
They  were  told,  "  that  if  the  British  government 
had  any  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  United  States, 
any  respect  for  the  nation,  and  placed  any  vaiuc 
on  their  friendship,  it  would  facilitate  the  means 
of  relieving  their  oppressed  citizens.'':].  'I'bey 
were  told  •'  that  the  British  naval  officers  often 
impressed  Swedes,  Danes  and  other  foreigners, 
from  the  vessels  of  the  United  States  ;  that  they 
might,  with  as  much  reason,  rob  American  ves- 
sels of  the  property  or  nierebandize  of  Swedes, 
Danes  and  Portuguese,  as   seize  and  detain  in 

*See  the  note  of  Mr.  Jay,  envoy   extraordinary,  to 
Lord  Grenville,    datedthe  30th  July,  1794. 

tSee  the  letter  of  Mr.  King,  minister  at  London,  to 
the  secretary  of  State,  datedthe  !3th  of  Aprils  1797. 

tSee  the  letter  from  Mr.  Pickciiu^^,  secretary  of 
State,  to  Mr.  King,  minister  at  London,  elated  the  lOtli 
of  September,  1796. 

B 


ii> 


14 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


In 


2i.- 


their  service,  the  subjects  of  those  inition^  found 
on  hoard  of  American  vessels  ;  and  that  <he  nrcs- 
ideut  Avas  extremely  anxious  to  liav«  this  business 
of  impressing  placed  on  a  reasonable  footing."^ 
And  they  were  told,  **  that  the  impressment  of 
American  seamen  was  an  injury  of  very  serious 
magnitude,  which  deeply  aifeeted  the  feelings  and 
honor  of  the  nation  ;  that  no  right  had  been  as- 
serted to  impress  the  natives  of  America  ;  yet, 
that  they  were  impressed^ ;  they  were  dragged  on 
board  British  ships  of  war»  with  the  evidence  of 
citizenship  in  their  hands,  and  forced  by  violence 
there  to  serve,  until  conclusive  testimonials  of 
their  birth  could  be  obtained  ;  that  many  must 
perish  unrelieved,  and  all  were  detained  a  consid- 
erable time  in  lawless  and  injurious  confinement  ; 
that  the  continuance  of  th«  practice  must  inevit- 
ably produce  discord  between  two  natioe^  which 
ought  to  be  friends  of  each  other  ;  and  that  it 
was  more  advisable  to  desist  from,  and  to  take  ef- 
fectual measures  to  prevent  an  acknowledged 
wrong,  than  by  persevering  in  that  wrong,  to  ex- 
cite against  themselves  the  well-founded  resent- 
ments of  America,  and  force  the  government  into 
measures,  which  may  very  possibly  terminate  in 
an  open  rupture."f 

Such  were  the  fe<^1ings  and  the  sentiments  of 
the  American  government,  under  every  change  of 
its  administration,  in  relation  to  the  British  prac- 
tice of  impressment  ;  and  such  the  remonstran- 
ces addressed  to  the  justice  of  Great-Britain* 
It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  this  cause,  indepen- 
dent of  every  other,  has  been  uniformly  deemed 
a  just  and  certain  cause  of  war  ;   yet  the  charao- 

♦See  the  letter  from  the  ^ame  to  the  $$ime,  dated  the 
36th  of  October,  1796.  4- 

fSee  the  letter  from  Mr.  Marshall,  secretary  of 
State, (now  chief-justiee  ©f  the  United  States)  to  Mr. 
King, minister  at  London,  dated  the  20th  Sept* 4  800. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


1^ 


teristic  policy  of  the  United  States  still  prevailed: 
remonstraiKie  was  only  succeeded  by  negociatioii ; 
and  every  assertion  of  American  rights,  was  ac- 
companied with  an  overture,  to  secure,  in  any 
practicable  form,  the  rights  of  Great  Britain.* 
Time  seemed,  however,  to  render  it  more  difficult 
to  ascertain  and  fix  the  standard  of  the  British 
rights,  according  to  the  succession  of  the  Britisk 
claims.  The  right  of  entering  and  searching  an 
American  merchant  ship,  for  the  purpose  of  im- 
pressment, was,  for  a  while,  confined  to  the  case 
of  British  deserters ;  and  even  so  late  as  the 
month  of  February,  1800,  tht?  minister  of  his 
Britannic  majesty,  then  at  Phii^delphia,  urged 
the  American  government  "  to  take  Into  consid- 
eration, as  the  only  means  of  drying  up  every 
source  of  aomplaint,  and  irritation,  upon  that 
head,  a  proposal  whieh  he  had  made  two  years 
hefore,  in  the  name  of  his  majesty's  government^ 
for  the  reciprocal  restitution  of  deserters.*'!  But 
this  project  of  a  treaty  was  then  deemed  inadmis- 
sible, hy  the  presi^lent  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  chief  efUcers  of  the  executive  departments  of 
the  government,  whom  he  consulted,  for  the  same 
reason,  speeifteally,  wliirh,  at  a  subsequent  peri- 
od, induced  the  president  of  the  United  Statei, 
to  withhold  his  approbation  from  the  treaty  ne- 
gociated  by  the  American  ministers  at  London,  in 
the  year  1806  ;  namely,  "  that  It  did  not  suffi- 
caently  provide  against  the  impressment  of  A- 

^See,  particularly,  Mr.  King's  propositions  to  lord 
Grenville,  and  lord  Hawkesbury,  of-  the  1 3th  April, 
1797,  the  15th  of  March,  1799,  the  25th  of  February^ 
IdOl^andin  July,  1803. 

tSee  Mr.  Liston's  note  to  Mr.  Pickering,  the  secre- 
tary of  »tat9,  dated  the  4th  of  February,  1800. 


■)■' 


ri 


ml 


f 


w 


'•*,' 


U 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


U 


If 


f"' 


m 


iil 


tncriean  soamen  ;''*  and  <^  that  it  is  better  to  liave 
no  article^  ani)  to  meet  the  consequences^  thaa 
not  to  enumerate  merchant  vessels  on  the  high 
seasy  among  the  things  not  to  be  forcibly  entered 
in  seareh  of  deserters/'f  But  the  British  claim^ 
ex^tanding  with  singular  elastieity,  \vassoon  found 
to  include  a  right  to  enter  American  vessels  on 
the  high  seas,  in  order  to  search  for  and  seize  all 
British  seamen  ;  it  next  embraced  the  case  of  ev- 
ery British  subject ;  and  Unallv,  in  its  practical 
enforcement)  it  has  been  extended  to  every  mari- 
ne r,  ^ho  eould  not  prove^  upon  the  spot^  that  he 
was  a  citizen  of  the  United  Statesf 

While  the  nature  of  the  British  claim  was  thus 
ambiguous  and  fluctuating,  the  principle  to  which 
it  was  referred,  fbr  justifieation  and  support,  ap- 
peared to  be,  at  once,  arbitrary  and  illusory.  It 
was  not  recorded  in  any  positive  code  of  the  law 
ef  nations  ;  it  was  not  displayed  in  the  elementa- 
ry works  of  the  civilian  ;  nor^  had  it  ever  been 
exemplified  in  the  maritime  usages  of  any  other 
country,  in  any  other  age.  In  truth,  it  was  the 
offspring  of  the  munieipal  law  of  Great  Britain 
»lone  ;  equally  operative  In  a  time  of  peace,  and 
in  a  time  of  war  ;  and,  under  all  circumstances, 
inflicting  a  coercive  jurisdiction,  upon  the  com- 
merce and  navigation  of  the  world. 

For  the  legitimate  rights  of  the  belligerent 
powers,  the  United  States  had  felt  and  evinced  a 
sincere  and  open  respect.  Although  they  had 
marked  a  diversity  of  doctrine  among  the  most 

*See  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Pickering,  secretary  of 
state,  enclosing  the  plan  of  a  treaty,  dated  the .  3d  of 
May,  1 800,  and  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Wolcott,  secretary 
of  the  treasury,  dated  the  14th  April,  1800. 
-  fSec  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Stoddert,  secretary  of  th« 
navy,  dated  the  23d  ^pril,  1800,  and  the  opinions  of 
Mr.  Lee,  attorney-general,  dated  the  26th  of  Febria- 
Ty,  and  the  30th  Apidl,  1 800. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


ir 


eelebraled  jurists,  upon  many  of  the  litigated 
points  of  the  law  of  war  ;  although  thej  had  for- 
merly espoused*  with  the  example  of  the  most 
powerful  government  of  Europe*  the  principles 
of  the  armed  neutrality,  which  were  estahlished 
in  the  year  1780*  upon  the  basis  of  the  memora- 
ble declaration  of  the  empress  of  all  the  Bussias  ; 
and  although  the  principles  of  that  declaration 
have  been  incorporated  into  all  their  public  trea- 
ties* except  in  the  instaneeof  tlie  treaty  of  1794; 
yet*  the  Uoited  States*  stiil  faithful  to  the  piiCiiic 
and  impartial  policy  which  they  professed,  did 
net  hesitate*  even  at  the  commencement  of  the 
French  revolutionary  war*  to  accept  and  allow 
the  exposition  of  the  law  of  nations,  as  it  was 
then  maintained  by  Great  Britain  ;  and,  conse- 
quendy,  to  admit*  upon  a  m<*ch  contested  pointy 
that  the  property  of  her  enemy*  in  their  vessels, 
might  be  lawfully  captured  as  prize  of  war.*  It 
was,  also*  freely  admitted,  that  a  belligerent  pow- 
er had  a  right  with  proper  cautions^to  enter  and 
search  Anrtirican  vessels,  for  the  goods  of  an  cne- 
jny,  and  for  articles  contraband  of  war  ;  that,  if 
vpon  a  search  such  goods  or  articles  were  found, 
or  if,  in  the  course  of  the  search,  persons  in  the 
military  service  of  the  enemy  were  discovered,  a 
belligerent  had  a  right  of  transshipment  and  ie- 
raoval  ,•  that  a  belligerent  had  a  right,  In  doubt- 
fal  cases,  to  carry  American  vessels  to  a  conven- 
ient station,  for  further  examination  ;  and  that  a 
belligerent  had  a  right  to  exclude  American  yes- 
sels  from  ports  and  places,  under  the  bloc  kade  of 
an  adequate  naval  force.    These  rights  the  law 

*See  the  ©orrespondence  of  the  year  1792,  between 
Mr.  JeffvM'son,  secretary  of  State,  and  the  nunisters  of 
Great  Britain  and  France.  See  also  Mr.  Jefferson's 
ktter  to  the  American  minister  at  Paris,  of  the  same 
year,  requesting  the  recall  of  Mr.  Genat. 

-         jB2 


< ' 


71 

I 


f  i; 


I'd 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE, 


of  nations  might,  reasonablj^,  be  deemed  to  sanc- 
tion J  nor  has  a  faireitercise  of  the  powers  neces- 
6SLry  for  the  enjoyment  of  these  rights,  been,  at 
any  time,  eontroverted,  or  opposed,  by  the  Amer- 
ican government. 

But  it  must  be  again  remarked,  that  the  claim 
of  Great  Britain  was  not  to  be  satisfied,   by  the 
most  ample  and  explicit  recognition  of  the  law  of 
war  ;.for,  the  law  of  war  treats  only  of  the  rela- 
tions of  a  belligerent  to  his  enemy,  while  the  claim 
of  Great  Britain  embraced,  also,  the  relations  be- 
tween a  sovereign  and  his  subjects.    It  was  said, 
that  every  British  subject  was  bound  by  a  tie  of 
allegiance  to  his  sovereign,  which  no  lapse  of  time, 
too  change  of  place,  no  exigeney  of   life,  coukl 
possibly  weaken  or  dissolve.     It  was   said,   that 
the  British  sovereig^a  was  entitled,  at  all  periods, 
and  on  all  occasions,  to  the  services  of  his  sub- 
jects.    And  it  was  said,  that  the  British   vessels 
of  war  upon  the  high   seas,  might  lawfully  and 
forciblv  enter  the  merchant  vessels  of  every  oth- 
er nation  (for  the  theory  of  these   pretensions  is 
not  limited  to  the  ease  of  the   United   States,  al- 
though that  case  has  been,  almost  exclusively* 
affected  by  their  practical  operation)  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discovering  and  impressing  British  sub- 
jects.*   The  Unitetl  States  presume  not   to   dis- 
cuss the  forms,  or  the  principles,  of   the  govera- 
ments  established  in  other  countries.     Enjoying 
the  right  and  the  blessing  of  self-government,  they 
leave,  implicitly,  to  every  foreign  nation,  tho 
choice  of  its  social  and  political  institutions.  But, 
whatever  may  be  the  form,  or   the  principle,  of 
government,  it  is  an  universal  axiom  of  public 
law,  among  sovereign  and  i-ndependent  states,  that 
every  nation  is  bound  so    to    use   and  enjoy  its 


*See  the  British  deelaratioD  of  the  10th  of  January, 
1813. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


19 


sane- 
eces- 
n,  at 
mer- 


ownrights^as  not  to  injure^or  (lestrey^  the  rights 
of  anj^  other  nation.  Say  then,  that  the  tie  of 
ailegianee  cannot  be  serered,  or  relaxed,  as  re- 
spects the  sovereign  and  the  subject  ;  and  say, 
that  the  sovereign  is,  at  all  times,  entitled  to  the 
services  of  the  subjeet ;  still,  there  is  nothing 
gained,  in  support  of  the  British  elaim,  unless  it 
caB»  also,  be  said,  that  the  British  sovereign  has  a 
right  to  seek  and  seize  bis  subject,  while  actually 
within  the  dominion,  or  under  the  special  protec- 
tion, of  another  sovereign  state.  This  will  not, 
surely,  be  denominated  a  proeess  of  the  law  of 
nations,  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  the  rights  of 
war  ;  and  if  it  shall  be  tolerated  as  a  process  of 
the  municipal  law  of  Great  Britain,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  enforcing  the  right  of  the  sovereign  to  the 
service  of  his  subjects,  there  is  no  principle  of 
discrimination,  which  can  prevent  its  being  em- 
ployed in  peace,  or  in  war,  with  ail  the  attendant 
abuses  of  force  and  fraud,  to  justify  the  seizure 
of  British  subjects  for  crimes,  or  for  debts,  and 
the  seizure  of  British  property,  for  any  cause 
that  shall  be  arbitrarily  assigned.  The  introduc- 
tion of  these  degrading  novelties,  into  the  mari- 
time code  of  nations,  it  has  been  the  arduous 
task  of  the  American  government,  in  the  onset, 
to  oppose  ;  and  it  rests  with  all  other  govern- 
ments to  decide,  hew  far  their  honor  and  their 
interests  must  be  eventually  implicated,  by  a  tac- 
it acquiescenee,  in  the  successive  usurpations  of 
the  British  flag.  If  the  right  claimed  by  Great- 
Britain  be,  indeed,  common  to  all  governmeDts, 
the  oeean  will  exhibit,  in  addition  to  its  many  oth- 
er perils,  a  scene  of  everlasting  strife  and  conten- 
tion 5  hut  what  other  government  ha«  ever  claim- 
ed or  exercised  the  right  ?  If  the  rij*ht  sfasdl  be 
exclusively  established  flpB  trophy  of  the  naval 
superiority  of  Great-Britain,  the  oeean,  which 
has  been  sometimea  emphatically  denomisated^ 


i 


m 

m 


ao 


AMERltAN  EXPOSE. 


♦rtlie  high-way  of  nations/'  will  be  identified  in 
the  occupancy  and  use,  with  (he  dominions  of  the 
British  crown ;  and  eyery  ethop  nation  must  en- 
joy the  liberty  of  passage,  upon  the  payment  of 
a  tribute  for  the  indulf(;ence  of  a  licence  :  but 
what  nation  is  prepHied  foe  thi^  sacrifice  of  ite 
honor  and  its  interests  ?  And  if»  after  all,  the 
right  be  now  asserted  (as  experience  too  plainly 
indicates)  for  the  purpose  of  imposing  on  the  U- 
xiited  States^  to  accommodate  the  British  mari- 
time policy^  a  new  and  odious  limitation  of  the 
sovereignty  and  independence*  which  were  ac- 
quired by  the  glorious  revolution  of  1776,  it  is 
not  for  the  American  government  to  calculate  the 
duration  of  a  war,  that  shall  be  waged«  in  resist- 
ance of  the  active  attempts  of  Great  Britain,  to 
accomplish  her  project :  for  where  is  the  Amer- 
ican citizen,  who  would  tolerate  a  day's  submis- 
sion, to  the  vassalage  of  such  a  condition  ? 

Bui  the  American  government  has  seen,  with 
some  surprise,  the  gloss,  which  (he  prince  regent 
of  Great-Britain,  in  his  declaration  of  the  10th 
of  January,  1813,  has  condescended  to  bestow 
upon  the  British  claim  of  a  righ(  to  I<npres3 
men,  on  board  the  merchant  vessels  of  other  na- 
tions ;  and  the  retort,  which  he  has  venttired  to 
^  mal^,  upon  the  conduct  of  the  United  States^ 
relative  to  the  controverted  doctrines  of  expatria- 
tion. The  American  government,  like  every 
other  civilized  government,  avows  (he  principle, 
and  indulges  thepractioe,  of  naturalizing  foreign- 
ers. In  Great  Britain,  and  through  the  continent 
of  Europe,  the  laws  and  regulations  upon  the 
subject^  are  not  materially  dissimilar,  when  com- 
pared with  the  laws  and  regulations  of  the  Unit- 
ed States.  The  effect,  however,  of  such  natur- 
alization, upon  the  conlllxion,  which  previously 
subsisted,  between  the  naturalized  person,  and  the 
goYernment  of  the  country  of  his  btrth;  has  been 


AMERICAN  feiPOSE. 


8t 


differently  oonsidered^  at  difi*ereit  times,  and  in 
difTerent  places.  Stilly  there  are  manj  respects, 
in  whieli  a  diversity  of  opinion  does  not  exist,  and 
cannot  arise.  It  is  agreed,  on  all  hands,  that  an 
act  of  naturalization  is  not  a  violation  of  the  law 
of  nations  ;  and  that,  in  particular,  it  is  not  in  it  • 
self  an  offence  against  the  governnieni,  >vh«so 
subje''>t  is  naturalized.  It  is  agreed,  that  an  act 
of  naturalization  creates,  between  the  parties,  the 
reciprocal  obligations  of  allegiance  and  protec- 
tion. It  is  agreed,  that  while  a  naturalized  citi- 
zen continues  within  the  territory  and  jurisdic- 
tion of  his  adoptive  government,  he  cannot  be 
pursued,  or  seized,  or  restrained,  by  bis  former 
sovereign.  It  is  agreed,  that  a  naturalized  citi- 
zen, whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  claims  of 
the  sovereign  of  his  native  country,  canrot  law- 
fully be  withdrawn  from  the  obligations  of  his 
contract  of  naturalization,  by  the  force  or  seduc- 
tion of  a  third  power.  And  it  is  agreed,  that  no 
sovereign  can  lawfully  interfere,  to  take  from  the 
service,  or  the  employment,  of  another  sovereign, 
persons  who  are  not  the  subjects  of  either  ef  the 
sovereigns  engaged  in  the  transaction.  Beyond 
the  principles  of  these  accorded  propositions,, 
what  have  the  United  States  done  to  justify  the 
imputation  of  <<  harboring  British  seamen  and  of 
exercising  an  assumed  right,  to  transfer  the  alle- 
giance of  British  subjects  ?"*  The  United  States 
have,  indeed,  insisted  upon  the  right  of  navigat- 
ing the  oeean  in  peace  and  safety,  protecting  all 
that  is  covered  by  their  fJag,  as  on  a  place  of 
equal  and  common  junsdicliun  to  all  nations  ; 
save  where  the  law  of  war  interposes  the  excep- 
tions of  visitation,  search  and  capture  ;  but  in 
doing  this,  they  have  done  no  wrong.    The  Unit- 

*See  the  British  declaration  of  the  10th  of  Jaiiuaiy,  i| 

1813.  '      i 


i-i'« 

u. 


^•1 


i  !h 


n 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


ed  Statosy  in  perfect  consistency,  it  U  belicvecU 
yfhh  the  practice  oi'  all  belligerent  nations,  not 
even  excepting  Great  Britain  herself,  have,  in- 
cleedy  announced  a  determination,  since  the  dec- 
laration of  hostilities,  to  afford  proteetion,  as  well 
to  the  naturalized,  as  to  the  native  citizen,  who, 
giving  the  strongest  proofs  of  fidrlity*  should  be 
taken  in  arms  by  the  enemy;  and  the  British 
cabinet  well  know  that  this  determination  could 
have  no  influence  upon  those  councils  of  th«ir 
sovereign,  which  preceded  and  produced  the  war. 
It  was  not,  then,  to  «  harbor  British  seamen,** 
nor  to  ♦<  transfer  the  allegiance  of  Bi'Jtish  sub- 
jects |f"  nor  to  "cancel  the  jurisdiction  of  tlie  le- 
gitimate sovereign  ;'*  nor  to  vindicate  «*  the  pre- 
tensions that  acts  of  naturalization,  and  certift- 
eates  of  citizenship,  were  as  valid  out  of  their 
territory,  as  within  it  5"*  that  the  United  States 
Iiave  asserted  the  honor  and  the  privilege  of  tlicir 
flag,  by  the  force  of  reason  and  of  arms.  But  it 
was  to  resist  a  systeraatie  scheme  of  maritime 
aggrandizement,  which,  prescribing  to  every  oth- 
er nation  the  limits  of  a  territorial  boundary, 
tlaimed  for  Great  Britain  the  exclusive  dominion 
of  the  seas ;  and  which,  spurning  the  settled 
principles  of  the  law  of  war,  condemned  the 
ships  and  mariners  of  the  UnUed  States,  to  suf- 
fer, upon  the  high  seas,  and  virtually  within  the 
juri^liotion  of  their  flag,  the  most  rigorous  dis- 
pensations of  the  British  municipal  code,  inflict- 
ed by  the  coarse  ami  licentious  hand  of  a  British 
press  gang. 

The  injustice  of  the  British  claim,  and  the  eru- 
elty  of  the  British  practice,  have  tested,  for  a  se- 
ries of  years,  the  pride  and  the  patience  of  the 
American  government :  but,  still,  every  experi- 

r 

*See  these  passages  in  the  British  declaration}  of  the 
loth  January,  1813, 


^^^^w 


mr^ 


AMERfCAK  EXPOSE. 


n 


ment  wns  anxiously  made,  to  airoid  the  last  resort 
of  natiioBS.  '1  he  eluim  of  Great  Britain,  in  its 
theory,  was  lifiiited  to  the  right  of  seeking  and 
impressing  its  own  subjects,  on  board  of  the  mer- 
chant vessels  of  the  United  States,  although  in 
fatal  experience^  it  has  been  extended  {as  already 
appears)  to  the  seizure  of  the  subjects  of  every 
other  power,  sailiug  under  a  voluntary  contract 
with  the  American  merchant  ^  to  the  seizure  of 
the  naturalised  citizens  of  the  United  States,  sail* 
ing,  also,  under  voluntary  contracts,  which  every 
foreigner,  independent  of  any  act  of  naturaliza- 
tion, is  at  liberty  to  form  in  every  country  ;  and 
even  to  the  seizure  of  the  native  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  sailing  on  board  the  ships  of  their 
own  nation,  in  the  prosecution  of  a  lawful  com- 
merce. The  excuse  for  what  has  been  unfeeling- 
ly termed  *<  partial  mistakes,  and  oecasionaly 
abuse,"^  when  the  right  of  impressment  was  prac- 
tised towards  vessels  of  the  United  States,  is,  in 
the  words  of  the  prince  regent's  declaration,  *^  a 
similarity  of  language  and  manners,"  bat  was  it 
not  known,  when  this  excuse  was  offered  to  the 
world,  that  the  Russian,  the  Swede,  the  Dane, 
and  the  German  ;  that  the  Frenchman,  the  Span- 
iard, and  the  Portuguese  ;  nay,  that  the  African^ 
and  the  Asiatic  5  between  whom  and  the  people 
of  Great  Britain  there  exists  no  similarity  of  lan- 
guage, manners  or  complexion  ;  had  been, 
equally  with  the  American  citizen  and  the  British 
subject,  the  victims  of  the  impress  tyranny.!  lf» 
however,  the  exeuse  be  sincere,  if  the  real  object 

of  the  impressment  be  merely  to  secure  to  Great 

•t 

*Seethe  British  declaration  of  the  10th  of  January, 
1813. 

fSee  the  letter  of  Mr.  Pickering,  secretary  of  state, 
to  Mr.  King,  minister  at  London,  of  the  26th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1796  ;  and  the  letter  of  Mr.  Marshall,  secretary 
of  state,  to  Mr.  King,  of  the  ^Oth  ^  September,  1800. 


I 


w 


,1 


!I4 


AMERICAN  EXrOaE. 


fe..?!!' 


Britain^  the  ^laval  services  of  her  own  snbjeets, 
and  not  to  roan  her  ileets^  in  every  practicable 
mode  of  ehlistmenly  by  right,  or  by  wrong  ;  and 
if  ^  jtust  and  generous  goyernment,  professing  nau- 
tua)  friendship  and  respect,  iiia;y  be  presumed  to 
prefer  the  aecomplishnnent  e^en  of  a  legitimate 
purpose;  by  me^ns  the  least  afflicting  and  injuri- 
ous to  others,>vhj  have  the  overture's  of  the  United 
States,  oift^ring  other  means  as  effectual  as  im- 
pressment, for  the  purpose  avowed,  to  the  con- 
sideration and  acceptance  of  Great  Britain,  been 
forever  eludeil  or  rejecttd  ?  Jt  has  been  offered, 
that  the  nuukber  of  men  to  be  protected  b;^  an 
American  vessel  should  l»e  limited  by  her  tonnage ; 
that  British  officers  should  be  permitted,  in  Brit- 
ish ports,  to  enter  the  vessel  ir,  order  to  ascertain 
the  number  of  men  on  board  ;  and  that  in  ease  of 
an  addition  to  her  crew,  the  British  subjects  en- 
listed should  be  liable  to  impressment.^  It  was 
•ffered  in  the  solemn  form  of  a  law,  that  the  A- 
merican  seamen  should  be  registered  ;  that  they 
should  be  provided  with  certificates  of  eitizen-* 
ship,f  and  that  the  roll  of  the  crew  of  every  ves- 
sel should  be  formally  authenticated.:):  If  was  of- 
fered, that  no  refuge  or  protection  should  be  giv- 
en to  deserters  ;  but,  that,  on  the  contrary,  they 

♦See  the  letter  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  secretary  of  state,  to 
Mr.  Pinkney,  ndnisterat  London,  dated  the  11th  of 
June,  1792^  and  the  letter  of  Mr.  Pickering,  secretary 
of  state,  t«  Mr.  King,  minister  at  London,  dated  the  &th 
of  June,  1796. 

fSee  the  act  qf  Congressi  passed  the  28th  of  May, 
1796. 

4:See  the  letter  of  Mr.  Pickering,  secretary  of  state, 
to  Mr.  King,  minister  at  London,  dated  the  8th  of 
Jane,  1796. 


AMElttCAN  EXPOSE. 


Ad 


V 


olwnldKe  Butrcndcred.*  It  was  dgain  ft  sigainoifer- 
ed  tb  ciincfor  id  a  convention,  which  it  was  thought 
practiesiWe  to  be  formed,  and  which  would  settle 
the  question  of  impressment,  in  a  manner  that 
wt^tfld  he  ^afe  for  England,  and  satisfactory^  to 
the  United  States.)  It  was  offered  that  each  par- 
tj^  shOtfld  prc^ibTt  its  citizens  or  its  subjects  from 
eland^stfireij  concealing  or  carr^'ing  away,  from 
the  territories  or  colonies  of  the  other,  any  sea- 
man t^loHging  to  the  other  party,  j^  And^  con«l>*- 
srvely,  it  has  been  o^ered  sfnd  declared  by  kiw^ 
that  "p-fter  the  termination  of  the  present  war, 
it  should  nt)t  be  lawful  tii  employ  on  board  of  any 
of  the  public  or  private  vessels  of  tlie  United 
States,  any  persons  except  citizens  of  the  United 
Staters  ;  and  that  no  foreigner  should  be  adinitied 
to  becoifre  a  citizen  hereafter,  who  had  not  for 
the  continued  term  of  five  yeai's,  resided  within 
the  United  States,  without  being,  at  any  time,  du-  • 
ring  the  five  years,  out  of  the  territories  of  the 
United  States.'*^ 

It  is  mftnifest  then  that  such  provision  miglit 
lie  made  by  law  ;  and  that  such  provision  has  been 
repeatedly  and  urgently  proposed ;  as  would,  in 
all  future  tiines^  exclude  from  the  maritime  ser- 
vice of  the  United  States,  both  in  public  and  pri- 
vate vessels,,  every  person,  who  eould,  possildy, 
be  ckimed  b^  Great  Britain,  as  a  native  subject, 
whetbei"  he  iiad,  or  had  not,  been  naturalized  in 

*3ee  the  project  of  a  treaty  on  the  aiubject,  between 
Mr.  Pickering,  secretary  of  state,  and  Mr.  Liston,  th^ 
British  minister  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1 800. 

fSee  the  letter  of  Mr.  King,  minister  ac  London,  to 
the  secretary  of  State,  dated  the  15th  of  March,  1792. 

tSee  the  letter  of  Mr.  K^ing  to  the  secretary  of  stute, 
datedin  Jiily^  1808. 

§See  the  act  of  Congress,  passed  on  the  si  ofMaicfi, 


I 


01 

1. 

I 


% 


Il 


SI 

i4-: 


* 


^    * 


26 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


in  ADserica.*    Enforced  by  the  same  sanetieiii 
iuid  sceuHiies^iivhich  are  employed  toeqforce  the 
penal  code  of  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  the  penal 
eode  of  (he  United  States,   the  provision   would 
afford  the  strongest  evidence,  that  no  British  sub- 
ject could  be  found  in  service  on  board  of  an  A- 
jueiican  vessel ;    and,     consequently,   whatever 
migiit  be  the  British  right   of   impressment,  in 
_^  the  abstract,  there  would   remain  no  justifiable 
motive,  there  could  hardly  be  invented  a  plausible 
pretext,  to  exercise  it,  at  the  expense  of  the  A- 
luerican  right  of  lawful  commeree.     If,  too,  as  it 
has  sometimes  been  insinuated,  (here  would,  nev- 
ertheless, be  room  for  frauds  and   evasions,  it  is 
suiScient  to  observe   that  the  American  govern- 
ment would  always  be  ready  to  hear,  and   to  re- 
dyess,  every  just  complaint^;  or,  if  redress   were 
sought  and  refused,  (a  preliminary  course  that 
ought   never   to  have  been  omitted,  but  which 
Great  Britain  has  never  pursued)  it  would  still  be 
in  the  power  of  the  British  government  to  resort 
to  its  own  force,  by  acts  equivalent  to  war,  for 
the  reparation  of  its  wrongs.    But   Great  Brit- 
ain has,  unhappily,  perceived  in  the  acceptance 
of  the  overtures  of  the    American  government, 
consequences  injurious  to  her   maritime  poliey  ; 
and,  therefore,  withholds  it  at  the  expense  of  her 
justice.     She  perceives,  perhaps,  a  loss  of  the  A* 
merican  nursery  for  her  seamen,  while  slie  is  at 
peace  ;  a  loss  of  the  service  at  American  crews, 
while  she  is  at  war;  and  a  loss  of  many  of  those 
opportunities,  which  have  enabled  her   to   enrich 
lier  navy,  by   the   spoils  of  the  American  com- 
merce, without  exposing  her   own  commerce   to 
the  risk  of  retaliation  or  reprisale. 

*See  the  letter  of  instructions  from  Mr.  Monroe, 
secretary  of  State,  to  the  plenipotentiaries  for  treating 
of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  under  the  mediation  of 
the;  emperor  Alexander,  dated  the  1 5  th  April,  1 8 13, 


AMtViiCAS  EXPOSE. 


^7 


i 


"Hius^  were  the  United  States,  in  a  season  of 
reputed  peace,  involved  hi  the  evils  of  a  stale  of 
^ar— and  tbu9,  ^y9s  the  American  flag  annoyed 
by  a  nation  still  professing  to  cherish  the  senti- 
ments of  mutual  friendship  and  respect,  which 
had  been  recently  vouched,  by  the  faith  of  a  sol- 
emn treaty.  But  the  American  government  even 
yet  abstained  from  vindicating  its  right-,  and 
from  avenging  ils  wrongs,  by  an  appeal  to  arms. 
It  was  not  an  insensibility  to  those  wrongs  ;  nop 
a  dread  of  British  power;  nor  a  subserviency  to 
British  interests,  that, prevailed,  at  tjiat  period, 
in  the  councils  of  the  lJnite4  States;  but,  under 
all  trials,  the  American  government  abstained 
£rotn  the  appeal  to  arms  then,  as  it  has  repeatedly 
since  doiie,  in  i^*3  collisions  with  France,  as  well 
as  with  Great  Britain,  from  the  purest  love  of 
peaee*  while  peace  could  be  rendered  compatible 
with  the  honor  and  indepcndenee  of  the  nation. 

During  the    period    which   has    hitherto  been" 
more  particularly  contemplated  (from  the  declar- 
ation of  hostilities  between    Great  Britain    aitf! 
France  in  the  year  1792,   until   the  short-lived 
pacification  of  the   treaty  of  Amiens  in   1802) 
there  were  not  wanting  occasions  to  test  the  con- 
sistency and  the  impartiality   of   the  America^n 
government,  by  a  comparison  of  its  conduct   to- 
wards  Great  Britain,  with  its  conduct  towards 
other  nations.     The  manifestation  of  the  extreme 
jealousy  of  the  French  government,   and   of  the 
intemperate  zeal  of  its  ministers  near  the  United 
States,    were  coeval   with  the  proclamation   of 
neutrality ;  but  after  the  ratification  of  the  trea- 
ty  of  Londen,  the   scene  of  violence,  spoliation, 
and  contumely,  opened  by  France,  upon  the  Unit- 
ed States,  became  such,  as  to  admit,  perhaps,    of 
BO  parallel,  except  in  the  cotemporaneous  scenes 
which  were  exhibited  by  the  injustice  of  her  great 
competitor.     The  American  goverDment  acted^. 


is 


^;il 


,'■  1 


)S^ 


AME«t?CAN  EXfOSfc 


in  both  eases,  on  the  iiame  paoifio  poliey ;  -in  tbe 
sainv  s|)irii  of  pntienee  and  forbearance  ;  but 
ivith  tiie  sain^deierniination^  alsoy  to  assert  tliQ 
lionor  and  independence  of  tbe  nation.  When^ 
thcrefoixs  ever^  coneiliator^  eiTort  bad  failed* 
and  when  two  suecessive  missions  of  peace  had 
been  contemptuously  repuised*  the  American  gov- 
ernment,  in  (he  year  ir9S,  annulled  itr  treaties 
^'ith  France,  and  waged  a  maritime  war  aeaicst 
^hai  nation,  for  the  defence  ofit!;  citisseas  and  com- 
merce, paysing  on  tbe  high  seas.  But  as  soon  as  the 
hope  wascoiiceived,  of  a  satisfactory  change  in  the 
dispositions  of  the  French  government,  the  A" 
merican  government  hastened  to  send  another 
mission  to  Franee,  and  a  convention,  signed  in  the 
year  1800,  terminated  the  sisbsisting  differences 
between  ibe  two  countries. 

!Nor  were  the  United  States  able,  during  the 
same  period,  to  avoid  a  colJisien  wkh  tlie  govern  * 
men t  of  Spain,  upon  any  important  and  criiicai 
questions  of  boundary  and  commerce,  of  Indian 
jvarfare  and  maritime  spoliation.  Preserving, 
however^  < heir  system  Df  moderation,  in  the  as- 
sertion of  their  rights,  a  course  of  amicable  uis- 
cussion  and  explanation,  produced  mutual  satis* 
faction ;  and  a  treaty  of  friendship,  limits  and 
niivigalion  was  formed  in  the  year  1795,  by  wUiefa 
tbe  citizenaof  the  United  States  acquired  a  right, 
for  the  space  of  three  years,  to  deposit  their  mc^r- 
chandize  and  effects  in  the  port  of  New- Orleans  ; 
with  a  promise,  either  that  the  enjoyment  of  that 
right  should  be  indeiinitely  continued,  or  that  a- 
Tiother  part  of  the  banks  of  <he  Mississippi  should 
be  assigned  for  an  equivalent  establishment.  But, 
^hen^  in  the  year  ltS02,  the  port  of  New-Orleans 
was  abruptly  closed  against  th«  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  with<^ut  an  assignment  of  any  oth- 
er  equivalent  place  of  deposite,  the  Harmony  of 
the  two  countries  was  agaiii  nuost  seriously  ea- 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


29 


the 
but 
th9 
hen, 
iied, 
haa 
gov- 
atiea 
aic8t 
eom* 
s  the 
Qthe 
A- 
other 
n  the 
ncc& 


iilS- 


dTangered  ;  until  the  Spanish  government,  yield* 
ing  to  the  remonstrances  of  the  United  States* 
disavowed  the  act  of  the  intendant  of  New  Or- 
leansi  and  ordered  the  right  of  deposite  to.  be  re- 
instated, on  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  1795, 

The  eifects  produced,  even  by  a  temporary  sua- 
pension  of  the  right  of  deposite  at  New-Orleans, 
upon  the  interests  and  feelings  of  the  nation,  nat- 
urally suggested  to  the  American  government  the 
expediency  of  guarding  against  their  recurrence, 
by  the  acquisition  of  a  permanent  property  in  the 
province  of  Louisiana.  The  minister  of  the  U- 
nited  States^  at  Madrid,  was,  accordingly,  in- 
structed to  apply  to  the  government  of  Spain  up- 
on the  subject ;  and  on  the  'fethof  May,  isbs,  he 
received  an  answer,  stating,  that  **  by  the  retro*- 
eession  made  to.  France,  of  Louisiana,  that  power 
regained  the  province,  with  the  limits  it  had^ 
saving  the  rig!its  acquired  by  other  pcrwers  ;  ami 
that  the  United  States  could  address  themselves 
to  the  Freneh  government,  to  nogoeiate  the  ae- 
quisition  of  territories,  which  might  suit  their 
interest.'-*  But  before  this  reference,  official  in- 
formation of  the  same  fact  had  been  received  by 
Mr.  Pinkncy  fron*  the  court  of  Spain,  in  the 
month  of  M  irch  preceding  ;  and  the  Araeri<*an 
government,  having  instiiuted  a  special  mission 
to  negociate  the  purchusc  o,f  Louisiana  from 
France,  or  from  Spain,  whichever  should  be  the 
sovereign,  t!ie  purchase  was,  accordingly,  accom- 
plished for  a  vainabK^  consideration  (that  was 
punctually  paid)  by  the  treaty  concluded  at  Pariii 
ou  the  30th  April,  1S03. 

'  *Se0  the  letter  from  don  Pedro  Gevallos,  the  minis- 
ter of  Spain,  to  Mr.  C.  Pinkney,  the  minister  of  the  ^y 
nited  States,  dated  the  4th  of  May,  1 80^,  from  wbich. 
U\Q  passage  cited  is  literally  translated.  \f 


*: 


M 


mi 


:i,.. 
^ 


30 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


The  American  government  has  not  seeni  witft* 
out  some  sensibiHtj,  that  a  transaetion,  aeoonipa- 
niec!  by  such  eircumFtances  of  general  publieitj» 
and  of  scrupulous  good  faith,  has  been  denounf^ed 
by  the  prince  regent^  in  his  declaration  of  the  10th 
of  January,  ISIS,  as  a  proof  of  the  ^\  ungenerous 
eonduct  of  the  United  States  towards  Spain.''* 
In  amplification  of  the  royal  cb^rge,  the  British 
negoeiators  at  Ghent,  have  presumed  to  impute 
"  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  by  the  United 
States,  to  a  spirit  of  aggrandizement,  not  neces- 
sary to  their  own  security  ;**  and  to  maintain 
<^  that  the  purchase  was  made  against  the  known^ 
conditions  on  which  it  had  been  ceded  by  Spain- 
to  France  f*'f^hat  **  in  the  fa«e  of  the  protesta- 
tion of  ihe  minis^r  of  his  catholic  majesty  at 
Washington,  the  president  of  the  United  States 
ratified  the  treaty  of  purchase  ;"^  and  that 
^  there  was  good  reason  to  belicve^that  many  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  transaction  were  indus- 
triously concealed."^  The  American  government 
cannot  condescend  to  retort  aspersions  so  unjust, 
in  language  so  opprobrious  ^  and  peremptorily  re- 
iects  the  pretension  of  CTieat  Britain,  to  interfere 
in  the  business  of  the  United  States  and  Spain  : 
but  it  owes,  nevertheless,  to  ihe  claims  of  truth,- 
a  distinct  statemenrt'of  the  facts  which  have  been 
thus  misrepresented*  When  the  special  mission 
was  appointed  to  negociate  the  purchase  of  Lou- 
isiana from  France,  in  the  manner  already  men- 
1ioned>  the  American  minister  at  London  was  in- 


*See  the  prince  regent's  declaration  of  the    10th  of 
January,  1813. 

"'■'^^  3  the  note  of  the  British  commissioners,  dated 
the  4th  of  September,  1 8 14.  , 

-^!(:See  the  note  of  the   Biitish  commissioners  da'ted 
the  19th  of  September,  1»14;  -  ^ 

§See  the  note  r>f  the  British  commissioners)  dated 
theethof  October>  1«14. 


AMERICAN  EXPOb^. 


$\ 


strutted  to  explain  the  object  of  the  mission^  and 
having  made  the  explanatioo,  he  ivas  assured  l^ 
the  British  goversinent,  ^  that  the  eointiiuflica- 
tion  was  reeeif  ed  ia  gof>d  i>art ;  no  deubt  was  sug- 
gested ef  the  right  of  the  United  Slates  (o  pur- 
sue^  separatt^Iy  ami  alone,  the  objects  they  aimed' 
at ;  but  the  British  government  appeared  lo  bo 
satisfied  with  the  president's  views  on  this  impor- 
tant stibject.""^  As  soon^  too,  as  the  treaty  of 
purehase  was  eonciudcd^  before  hostilities  were 
again  actually  eommenced  between  Great  Britain^ 
and  Franee,  and  previously,  indeed,  to  the  depart- 
ure of  the  French  amba^tsador  from  London*  the 
American  minister  openly  notified  to  the  Britisli^ 
govemmenty  that  a  treaty  had  been  signed,  by 
which  the  complete  sovereignty  of  tho  town  and 
territory  of  New-Orleans,  as  well  as  of  all  Lou- 
isiana, as  the  same  was  heretofore  possessed  by 
Spain,  had  been  acquired  by  the  United  States  of 
America  ;  and  that,  in  drawing  up  the  treaty^ 
eare  bad  been  taken  so  to  frame  the  same,  as  not 
to  infringe  any  right  of  Great  Biritain,  in  the 
navigation  of  the  river  Mississippi."!  .In  the  an- 
swer of  tho  Brkish  government,  it  was  explicitly 
declared  by  lord  Hawkesbury,  <<  that  he  had  re- 
ceived his  majesty's  commands  to  express  the 
pleasure  with  which  his  majesty  had  received  tho 
inteMigcnce  ;  and  to  add,  that  his  majesty  regard- 
ed the  care,  whreh  had  been  taken  so  to  frame 
the  treaty  as  not  to  infringe  any  right  of  Groat 
Britain  In  the  navigation  of  the  Midsissippi,  as 
^  the  most  satisfactory  evidence  of  a  disposition  on 
the  part  of  tho  government  of  the  United  States^ 

*Se€  the  letter  from  the  secretary  of  state,  to  Mr. 
King,  tlie  American  minister  at  Loadon,  dated  the  ^9th 
of  January,  \m^;  and  Mr.  King:*s  letter  to  the  secre- 
tary of  Etate,  dated  the  asth  of  April,  ia03, 

\S€e  the  letter  of  Mr.  KiogtQ  JoKl  lia»kealiiir|ri^ 
tedtlie  IMh  of  May,  ia03»  t 


m 


.-/ 


■  'If 


i! 
■ft. 


P 
U 


s$ 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


'yi;*F- 


s 


14  -if.' 


'Lj!!*    1 


corrcsponilent  with  that  ^bicli  his  majesty  entcF- 
taibedy  to  promote  and  improve  tliat  barmony, 
whieh  so  happily  subsisted  betweeii  the  twocoun- 
ti'ieS)  and  which  was  so  conducive  to  their  muUi- 
al  benetit/'*  The  worJd  will  judge  '  whethePf 
tindei:'  such  circumstances,  the  British  govern- 
ment had  any  cause,  on  its  own  account^  to  ar- 
raign the  conduct  of  the  United  States,  in  mak- 
ing the  piu'ohase  of  Louisiana  ;  and,  certainly^ 
no  greater  cause  will  be  found  for  the  arraign- 
ment, ou  account  of  Spain.  TJie, Spanish  govern- 
ment was  apprized  of  the  intention  of  the  United 
States  tX)  negoeiate  for  the  purchase  of  that  prov- 
ince; its  ambassador  witnessed  the  progress  of 
the  negociation  at  Paris ;  and  the  conclusion  of 
the  treaty,  on  the  30(h  of  April,  1803,  was 
promptly'  known  and  understood  at  Madrid,  Yet 
the  Spanish  government  interposed  no  objection^ 
no  protestation,  against  the  transaction,  in  Eu- 
rope.; and  it  was  not  until  the  month  of  Septem- 
ber, 1803,  that  the  American  government  heard, 
with  s!irprise,  from  the  mar.ister  of  Spain,  at 
TVasliin^ton,  thai  his  catholic  majesty  was  dissat- 
isfied with  the  cession  of  Louisiana  to  the  United 
States.  NotwitJistanding  this  diplomatic  remon/- 
stranee,  however,  the  Spanish  government  pro- 
ceeded to  deliver  tlie  possession  of  Louisiana  to 
France,  in  execution  of  the  treaty  of  St.  Idelfon- 
so  ;  saw  France,  by  an  almost  simultaneous  act, 
transfer  the  possession  to  the  United  States,  in 
execution  of  the  treaty  of  purchase  ;  and,^nany9 
instructed  the  marquis  du  Casa  Yrujo,  to  present 
to  the  American  government,  the  deelaralion  of 
the  15th  of  May,  1804,  acting  "  by  the  special 
order  of  his  sovereign,"  *«  that  the  explanations^ 
whicii  the  government  of  France  had  given  to  his 

*See  the  letter  of  lord  Hawkesbury  to  Mr.   Kingv, 
^fttfid  the  19th  of  May,  1 303. 


AMERICAK  EXPOSE. 


98-' 


eoun- 

stliep, 

►vern- 
|o   ar- 

mak- 
|ainly, 
^ajgn- 
vern- 

nJted 
prov- 
;ss  of 
)n   of 

Yet 

Eu- 
>tein- 
eard, 
i>  at 
issat- 
111  ted 
rnoMr 
pro- 
a  to 
Ifon- 
act, 
»  in 
iHv, 
3ent 

of 
cial 

h\3y 

his 


eatholic  fnajesty,  concerning  the  sale  of  Louisiana 
to  the  United  States^  and  the  amicable  dispou- 
tions,  on  the  part  of  the  king,  his  master,  towards 
these  states,  had  determined  him- ta  abandon  the 
opposition,  which,  at  a  prior  period,  and  with  the 
most  substantial  motiyes,  he  had  manifested  a- 
gainst  the  transaotion.'^^ 

But  after  this  aiTfica}>Ie  and  decisire  arrange- 
ment of  all  difierences,  in  relation  t«  the  validity 
of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  a  question  of  some 
embarrassment  remained,  in  relation  to  the  boun- 
daries of  the  ceded  territory.  This  qiiestien^ 
however,  the  American  goverrnn^nt  always  has 
been,  and  always  will  be,  willing  to  discuss,  in  the 
most  candid  manner,  and  to  settle  upon  the  most 
liberal  basis,  with  the  government  of  Spain.  It 
was  not,  therefore,  a  f,air  topicj  with  \ybieb  to  in- 
^arae  the  prince  regent's  declaration  ;  ar  to  em- 
bellisii  the  diplomatic  notes  of  the  British  nego- 
ciators  at  Qhent.f  The  period  has  arrived,  when 
Spain,  relieved  from  her  European  labors,  may 
be  expeet;ed  to  bestow  herattention^  more  effectu- 
ally, upon  the  state  of  her  colonies  ;  and,  acting 
with  wisdom,  justice  and  magnanimity,  hi  whicli 
she  has  given  freiquent  examples,  she  wiU  find  no 
difBculty  in .  meeting  the  receat  advaiiee  of  the 
American  government;  for  an  honorable  adjust- 
ment of  every  point  in  controversy  between  the 
two  cdunf  ries,  without  seeking  the  aid  of  British 
mediation,  or  adopting  the  animosity  of  British 
fonncils; 

♦See  ^ie  letter  of  the  marquis  de  Cata  Yrujo,  to  the 
Am-rican  secretary  of  state,  dated  the   1 5th  of  May, 

fSee  the  prince  regent^s  declaration  of  th«  lOth  of 
January,  1813.  See  the  notes  of  the  British  commis- 
woaws,  dated  the  19th  pf  September,  8th  Oct  i8l4. 


)^ 


■.i: 


I 


14 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


'6 


But  stilf  the  United  States,  tWling  a  constant 
ioterojit  in  the  opinion  of  cnlightenei!  and  impar- 
tial nations,  cannot  hesitate  to  enibraoo  the  op- 
portunity for  representing,  in  the  simplicity  of 
truth,  the  events,  hy  which  tliey  have  been  led  to 
take  possession  of  a  part  of  the  Floridas,  notwith- 
standing the  claim  of  Spain  to  the  sovereignty  of 
the  same  territory.  In  the  aTcoptation  and  under- 
standing of  the  United  Stutcs>  the  cession  of  Lou- 
isiana, embraced  the  country  south  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi territory. and  eastward  of  the  riverMissls- 
sippi  and  extending  to  theriverPerdido;  biit"their 
coneiliat^fry  views,  and  their  confidence  in  the 
justice  of  their  cause,  and  in  the  success  of  a  can- 
did discussion  and  amieahJe  negociation  with  a 
just  and  friendly  power,  induced  thein  to  acqui- 
esce in  the  terapory  continuance  of  that  territory 
under  tlie  Spanish  anthoritj  .^'*  When,  however, 
the  atijustment  of  the  boundaries  of  Louisiana,  as 
well  as  a  reasonable  indemnification  on  account  of 
maritime  spoliations,  and  the  suspension  of  the 
right  of  deposite  at  New- Orleans,  seemed  to  be 
indefinitely  postponedj^  on  the  part  of  Spain,  by 
events  wh?eh  the  United  States  had  not  contri- 
buted to  produce,  and  could  not  control  ;  Avhen  a 
crisis  had  arrived  subversive  of  the  order  of  things 
under  the  Spanish  authorities,  contravening  the 
views  of  both  parties,  and  endangering  the  tran- 
quillity and  security  of  the  adjoining  territories, 
by  the  intrusive  establishment  of  a  government, 
independent  ef  Spain,  as  well  as  of  the  United 
States  ;  '^m]  when,  at  a  later  period,  there  was 
reason  to  believe,  that  GiH?at  Britain  herself  de- 
signed to  oecupy  the  Floridas,  (and  she  has,  in- 
deed,  actually   occupied  Pensacola,  for  hostile 

*Sethe  proclamation  of  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  authorising  governor  Clairborne  to  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  territory,  dated  the  37th  of  Oct.  1810^ 


.i.ftii.iiidh*  ».->^1iy-; 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


35 


purposes,)  ill')  American  government^  without  de- 
parting from  its  respects  lor  tlio  rights  of  Spain^ 
and  even  consulting  the  honor  of  that  state,  un- 
equal, as  she  then  was,  to  the  task  of  suppressing 
the  intrusive  estahlishmcnt,  was  impelled  by  the 
paramount  principle  of  self-preservation,  to  res- 
cue its  own  rights  froip  the  impending  danger. 
Hence  the   United  States  in  the  year  1810,  pro- 
ceeding step  by  stop,according  to  the  growing  ex- 
igences of  the  time,  took  possession  of  the  coun- 
try, in   wliich  the   standard  of  independence  had 
been   displayed,    excepting  such   places  as  were 
held  by  a  Spanish  force.     In  the  year  1811,  they 
authorised   their  president,  by  law,  provisionally 
to  accept  of  the  possession  of  East  Florida  from 
the  local  authorities,  or  to  pre-occupy  it  against 
the  attempt  of  a  foreign  power  to  seize  it.  InlSlS^ 
they  obtained  the  possession  of  Mobile,  the   only 
place  tlien  held  by  a  Spanish  force  in  West  Florida; 
with  a  view  to  tkoir  own  immediate  security,  but 
without  varying  the  questions  depending  between 
them    and  Spain,  in   relation  to  that  province.—^ 
And  in  the  year  1814^,  the  American  commander^ 
acting  under  the  sanction  of  the  law  of  nations, 
but  unauthorised  by  the  orders  of  his  government, 
drove  from  Pensacola  the  British  troops,  who,  in 
violation  of  the  neutral  territory  of  Spain,  (a  vio- 
lation which  Spain  it  is  believed  must  herself  re- 
sent, and  would  have  resisted,  if  the  opportunity 
had  oecured,)  seized  and  fortified  that  station,  to 
aid  in    military   operations   against   the   United 
States.     But  all  these  measures  of  safety  and  ne- 
cessity were  frankly  ex|>lained,  as  they  occurred, 
to  the  government  of  Spain,  and  even  to  the  gov"- 
ernment  of  Great  Britain,  anieeedently  to    the 
declaration  of  war,  with  the  sineerestassuran<es, 
that  the  possession  of  the  territory  thus  acquired. 


1^ 


n 


i 


m 


hi'r, 


06 


AMlftlCAir  fXPOSE. 


«'  shdtkM  not  cease  to  be  n  subject  of  frietfjtly  iie~ 
goei.itioo  and  adjustment."^ 

The  present  review' of  the  eonduct  of  the  United 
Stages,  tovrards  ihe  belligerent  powers  of  bnrope^ 
will  be  regarded  by  every  candid  nind,  as  a  ne- 
cessary medium  to  vindicate  their  national  char- 
acter from  the  unnicrited  impatations  ofthe  prince 
regent's  declaration  of  the  Kflhof  Janimry^lSlSy 
and  not  as  a  medium  voluntarily  assumed,  accord- 
ing to  tbe  insinuations  of  that  deelaralion»  for  the 
revHal  of  anworthy  pnjudiees^  or  vim'jctive  pas- 
sions, in  reference  to  transactions  that  are  past. 
The  treat,y  of  Amiens,  which  seemed  to  termin- 
ate the  war  in  Europe,  seemed  ako  to  terminate 
the  neutral  sufferings  of  America;  but  the  hope 
of  repose  was,  in  hoth  respects,  delusive  and  traU' 
sient.  The  bostilif  ies  that  were  renewed  between 
Great  Britain  and  France,  in  the  year  1803,  were 
immediately  followed  by  the  renewal  of  the  ag- 
gressions of  the  belligerent  powers,  open  the  com* 
mercial  rights,  and  political  imleprndence  of  the 
United  States.  There  was  scarcely,  therefore, 
an  interval  separating  the  aggressions  of  the  first 
war,  from  the  aggressions  of  the  second  war  ; 
and  ahhongk,  ip  nature^  the  aggressions  contina- 

^iSee  the  letter  fi'om  the  secretary  of  state  to  governor 
Claiborne,  and  the  proclamation  dated  the  27th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1810  2 

See  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  ot  Florida, 
transmitted  to  the  secretary  of  st  \te,  by  the  government 
of  the  Mississippi  territory)  in  \ns  letter  of  the  1 7th  of 
October,  1810:  and  the  answer  of  the  secretary  of 
state,  dated  the  15th  of  Nove^rrber,  1810  : 

See  the  letterof  Mr.  Morier,  British  charge  de  af- 
faires, to  the  secretary  of  state,  dated  the  1 5th  of  De- 
oember,  1810,  and  the  secretary's  answer  : 

See  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Monroe,  and 
M^  Fr>sttr,  the  British  minister,  in  the  months  of  July, 
Septembcre  aad  NovembcTi  181 U 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


57 


itA  to  be  tlie  saiTkf^.  in  extent  (hey  became  incalcu- 
lably more  destructive.  Jt  will  be  sfcn,  however, 
that  the  American  government,  inflexibly  main- 
tained its  neutral  and  paeifio  polipy,  i.\  every  ex- 
tremity of  the  latter  trial,  Willi  i lie  same  good 
faith  and  forbearance,  that,  in  the  former  triiu, 
had  distinguUhed  its  conduct  ;  until  it  was  com- 
pelled to  choose,  from  the  alternative  of  national 
degradation,  or  national  resistance.  And  il'Great 
Britain  alone  then  became  the  objeet  t.f  the  A- 
inerican  declaration  of  war,  it  will  he  seen,  that 
Great  Britain  alone,  had  obstinately  closed  the  ^ 
door  of  amicable  negociation. 

The  American  minister  at  London,  anticipat- 
ing the  rupture  between  Great  Britain  and  Finnec, 
had  obtained  tissurances  from  the  British  govern- 
ment, ^*  that,  in  the  event  of  war,  the  instructions 
given  to  their  naval  officers  should  be  drawn  up 
with  plainness  and  pieeision  ;  and,  in  generaU 
tliat  the  belligerents  should  be  exercised  in  mod- 
cration,  and  with  due  respect  to  those  of  neu- 
trals.""^ And  in  relation  to  the  important  sub- 
ji'ect  of  impressment, be  had  actually  prepared  for 
signature,  with  the  assent  of  lord  Hawesbury  and 
lord  St.  Yincent,  a  convention  to  continue  during 
five  years,  declaring  that  <f  no  seaman,  nor  sea- 
faring person,  should,  upon  the  high  seas,  and 
without  the  jurisdiction  of  either  party,  be  de- 
majided  or  taken  out  of  any  ship  or  vessel,  be- 
longing to  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  one  of  the 
parties,  by  the  public  or  private  armf"d^  ships,  or 
men  of  war,  belonging  to,  or  in  the  service  of,  the 
other  party  ;  and  that  strict  orders  should  bc^giv- 
en  for  the  due  observance  of  the  cngageroe«t."f 

*See  the  letter  of  Mr.  King,  to  the  secretary  of  state, 
dated  the  I6th  of  May,  1805. 

tSee  the  letter  of  Mr.  King,  to  the  secretary  of  stute, 
dated  July,  1803. 

D 


is'f 


'^ 


i  f 


Ui 


I 


;jd 


^P 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


This  eonventjoD^  which  explicitly  reliriquished 
impressments  troiii  American  vessels  on  tlie  higli 
seas,  and  to  wbteh  the  British  ministers  hail,  lit 
fi'st,  agreed,  lord  St.  Yincenk  was  desirous  after* 
\wd%  to  modify:;  <*  stating^  that  on  furtherr^jQee- 
tion,  he  was  of  opinion,  that  the  narrow  seas 
should  be  expressly  excepted^  they  having  been^ 
as  his  lordship  remarked,  imniemorially  consider- 
ed to  be  within  the  dominion  of  Great  Britain.^* 
The  Anieriean  minister  however,  «  having  jup- 
posed,  from  the  tenor  of  his  conversations  with 
lord  St.  Vincent,  that  the  doctrine  of  mam  clan^ 
sum  would  not  he  revived  against  th?.  United 
States  on  this  occasion  ;  but  that  England  ^ould 
be  content,  with  the  limited  jurisdiction,  or  do- 
minion, over  the  seas  adjacent  to  her  territories, 
which  is  assigned  by  the  law  of  nations  to  other 
statej,  was  disappointed,  on  receiving  lord  St. 
Vincent's  communication  ;  and  ehose  rather  to 
abandon  the  negoeiaticn,  than  to  aequiese*;  in  the 
doctrine  it  proposed  to  establish.''^  But  it  was 
still  some  satisfaction  to  receive  a  formal  declar- 
ation from  the  British  government,  communicat- 
ed by  its  minister  at  Washington,  after  Uib  re-» 
commencement  of  the  war  in  Europe,  whiefi  pro- 
mised in  effect  to  reinstate  the  practice  of  naval 
blockades,  upon  the  principles  of  the  taw  of  na- 
tions ;  so  that  no  blockade  should  be  considered 
as  existing,  <<  unless  in^  respect  of  particular  forts 
which  might  be  actually  invested  ;  and,  then^  hat 
the  vessels  i»ouiid  to  such  ports  should  not  be  cap- 

♦See  the  letter  of  Mr.  King  to  Uic  secretary  of  stalci 
elated  July,  iao.X 


> 


AMBfilCAN  EXPOSE. 


39 


sbed 
higfi 

fler- 
flee- 
seas 

der- 


lared,  unless  they   had  previousJjr  been  warnedl 
not  to  enter  them.'** 

All  the  prceautions  of  the  AiwerieaD  goyern- 
ment  weret  nevertheless,  ineffectual,  and  the  as- 
siiranced  of  tlie  British  government  were,  in  no 
instancy,  verified.  The  outrage  of  impressment 
was  again  and  indiscriminately  ptrpct rated  upon 
the  crew  of  every  American  vessel,  and  on  every 
sea.  The  enormity  of  hlockades,  estalilisbed  h^ 
^n  order  in  council,  without  the  appiicatiun  of  a 
compcteat  force,  wasj^  more  and  more  deveiopcd. 
The  rule,  denominated  "  the  rule  of  tb^j  war  of 
1756/*  was  revived  in  an  affected  style  of  moder- 
SKtion,  hut  in  a  spirit  of  more  rigorous  execution.f 
The  lives,  the.  liberty,  the  fortunes  and  the  hap- 
piness of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  engage 
«d  in  the  pursuits  of  navigation  and  oommercej 
were  once  more  subjected  to  the  violence  and  cu- 
pidity of  the  British  cruizers.  And,  in  brief,  so 
grievous,  so  Intolerah'e,  had  the  nfflictions  of  the 
Bation  become,  that  the  people  with  one  mind,  and 
ono  voice,  called  loudly  on  their  government,  for 
redress  and  protection  ;^  the  congress  of  the  Uni- 
ted States^  participating  in  the  feelings  and  re- 
sentment of  the  time,  urged  upon  the  executivo 
magistrate*  the  necessity  of  an  isiamediate  demand 

^SjSG  the  lettei-  of  Mr.  Merry  to  the  secretary  of 
state,  ths  12th  of  April,  1804,  and  the  enclosed  copy  of 
a  letter  from  Mr.  Nepean,  the  secretary  of  the  admi* 
^ality,  to  Mr.  Hammond,  the  British  under  secretary  of 
state  of  foreigti  affairs,  dated  January  5,  1804. 

jSee  the  orders  in  council  of  the  24th  of  June,  1803, 
and  the  1 7th  of  August,  1805. 

tSee  the  memorials  of  Boston,  New-Ycrl:,  Phih»- 
delphia,  Baltimore,  &c.  presented  to  cono-^css  in  thft 
end  of  the  year  1805,  and  the  beginning  of  the  year  180C. 


}S 


I  :■ 


1;^ 


f 


It  i; 


''f 


40 


AMERICAN  EXPOSF< 


J! 


of  reparation  from  Great  Britain  ;'*^  Avhild  ()i a 
same  patrit  ^ic  spirit,  M^hioh  tiacl  uppostd  British 
usurpftlion  in  17 93*  and  cneountered  French  hos- 
tility  in  1798,  was  again  pledged,  in  every  variety 
of  florin,  to  the  mairiteiianee  of  the  national  honor 
and  indepehdenfe,  c'urir.^  the  more  arduous  trial 
that  arose  in  1805, 

Amidst  {hi'  scenes  of  iniiistice  on  the  one  hand, 
«nd  of  reelamanon  on  the  other,  the  Aint'rieati 
government  pieyrrved  its  equanimity  and  its  firm- 
ness. It  beh<^!d  mueh  in  the  coiKliret  of  Franee, 
and  of  her  ally,  bpain,  to  provoke  reprisals.  It 
beliehl  more  in  the  eondutt  of  Great  Britain* 
that  lod  unavoidably  (as  had  often  been  avowed) 
to  the  last  resort  of  arms.  It  beheld  in  the  tem- 
per of  ths  nation,  all  th?jt  was  requisite  to  Justify 
un  immediate  selection  of  Great  Britain,  as  the 
objeet  of  a  declaration  of  war.  And  it  coidd  not 
but  behold  in  the  poliey  of  France,  the  strongest 
inotWe  to  acquire  the  United  States*  as  an  asso- 
ciate in  the  existing  conil'ot«  Yet,  these*  eonsid- 
erations  did  not  then,  more  than  at  any  former 
crisis,  abdue  the  fortitude,  or  mislead  the  judg- 
ment, of  the  Ameriean  government'  ;  but  in  per- 
fect consistency  with  its  neutral,  as  well  as  its  pa- 
cific system^  it  d^f^manded  atonement,  by  remon- 
slranccs  with  France  and  Spain  ;  and  it  sought 
the  pres(  i'vation  of  peace,  by  negociation  with 
Great  Bril'  in. 

1  has  been  shown,  that  a  treaty  proposed,  em- 
p^iciticaliy,  by  the  British  minister,  resident  at 
Philadelphia,  ^^  as  the  means  of  drying  up  every 
source  of  complaint  and  irritation,  upon  the  head 
Qi'  iaripressmeutj^'  vas  ^^  deemed  utterly  inadmis* 

$See  the  resolutions  of  tlie  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  cf  the  10th  and  Uth  of  February,  1806  ;  and 
t!ic  reoo'ation  of  the  house  of  representatives  of  the 

United  States. 


S11 

di 

hJ 

S 


AMEBICA^  BlfPOSE. 


41 


iha 
tish 
hos- 
\tiy 
■)nor 
rial 


sible'^by  tbe  American  goyeromenti  l^ecame  it 
did  not  siiiSciently  provide  for  that  objeet>    It 
has,  i^lso;  been  shewn;*  that  another  treaty,  pro^ 
posed  by  the  American  minister  at  Londonf  ^aa 
laid  aside,  because  the  British  government,  viliii\9i 
it  was  willing  to  relinquisb,  expressly,  impress- 
mentii  from  American  vessels,  on  tbe  high  seas^ 
insi^^ed  upon  an  exception/  in  reference  to  tbe 
narrow  seas,  eiaimc^d  as  a  part  of  the  British  do- 
minion: and  experienco  demonstrated,  that  al- 
though the  spoliations  committed  upon  the  Amer- 
ican conimercc,   might  admit  of  reparation,  by 
the  payment  of  a  pecuniary  equivalent ;  yet,  con- 
sulting tbe  honor,  and  the  feelings  of  the  nation^ 
It  was  impossible  to  receive   satisfaction   for  tb^ 
erueltics  of  impressment,  by   any  other   means^ 
ihf^nbj  an  entire  diseontinuanoe  of  the  priacticel 
iVhen,  therefore,  the  envoys  extraordinary  ^erc 
-pointed  in  the  year  18^6,  to  negociate  with  the 
British  government,  every  authority  was   given, 
for  the  purposes  of  coneiliati'on  ;  nay,  an  act  of 
Congress,  prohibiting  the   importation  of  certain 
articles  ef  British  iiianufaeture  into  the  United 
States,  was  susp^ded,  in  proof  of  a  friendly  dis- 
position ;}  but  it  was   declared,   that   <Mhe  sup- 
Eression  of   impressment,  and  the  definition   cf 
lockades,  were  absolutely  indispGnsable  ;"  and 
that»  ^**  without  a  provision  against  impressme^iits, 
no  t  ft.uiv  should  be  concluded.'*     The  Aineviean 
env     >  t'eeordingly,  took  care  to  conimunieate  to 

,*See  J^'i^.  Llston'ts  letter  to  the  secretary  of  state, 
dated  the  4th  of  February,  1800  j  and  the  letter  ef  Mr. 
Pickerings,  sccretaiy  of  state,  to  the  president  of  the 
Uruted  States,  dated  the  20th  of  February,  1 800.        's 

fSee  the  act  of  Congress?  passed  the  1 8th  day  of 
#  ml,  1806  ;  and  the  act  suspending  it,  passed  the 
Imh  ©f  December,  1806. 


1^ 


I' 


m 
m 


i' 


•ja 


t'i 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


%i 


m 


P 


Che  Britisli commissioners,  tlierimitations  of  their 
powers*    Influenced,  at  the  same  tfme,  by  a  sin- 
cere desire  to  terminate  the  differences   between 
the  two  nations  ;  knowing  the  solicitude  of  their 
government,  to  relieve  its  seafaring  citizens  from 
actual  sufferance  ;  listening,  with  confldenoet   to 
assurances  and  explanations  of  the  British   oom^ 
missioners,  iaa  sense  favorable  to  their  wishes  ; 
and  judging  from  a  state  of  information,  that  gavo 
no  immediate  cause  to  doubt  the  suflRciencj  of 
those  assurances  and  explanations  f    the  envoys^ 
rather  than  terminate   the  negpciation   without 
any  arrangement^  were  willing  to  rely  on  the  ef- 
iicaey  of  a  subsiitute,  for  a  positive  article  in  the 
treaty,  (o  be  subD]ilte<l   to  the   considcratian   of 
theirgovernment,as'?H.  according  ta  the  dec- 
laration of  the  BritisL       mmlssibners^  was  tho 
only  arrangement,  they  were   permitted  at  thafr 
time,  to  propose  or  to  allow.     The  substitute  waa^ 
prescntedin  the  form  of  a  note  from  the  British 
commissioners  to  the  American  envoys,  and  con- 
tained a  pledge,  "  that  instructions  had  been  giv- 
en, and  should  be  repeated  and  enforced,  for   the 
observance  of  the  greatest  caution  in  the  impres- 
sing of  British  seamen  f^  that  the  strictest  caro 
should  be  taken  to  preserve  the   citizens  of   tho 
United  States  from  any  molestation  or   injury ; 
and  that  immediate  and  prompt  redress  should  bo 
afforded,  upon  any  representation  of   injury  sus- 
tained by  them."^ 

Inasmuch,  however,  as  the  treaty  contained  no 
provision  against  impressment,  and  Jt  was  se«n  by 
the  government,,  when  the  treaty  was  under  con- 
sideration for  ratifioation,  that  the  pledge  con- 
tained in  the  substitute  was  not  complied  with, 
hut,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  impt'essments  were 

*See  the  note  of  the  British  commissioners,  dated 
8  th  of  November,  lt06. 


AMERlCAxV  EXPOSE. 


49 


<.  ii 


eontirruci!,  with  undiminished  violence,  ia  the  A- 
irierioan  seas,  so  long  after  the  alledged  dale  of 
the  instmetions,  which  were  to  arrest  them  ;  that 
the  practical  inefficacy  of  the  suhstitute  could  not 
be  doubted  by  the  government  here,  the  ratificu- 
tion  of  the  treaty  was  necessarily  declined  ;  and 
it  has  since  appeared,  that  after  a  change  in  the 
firitish  ministry  had  taken  place,  it  was  declared 
by  the  secretr  ^^y  for  foreign  affairs,  that  no  en- 
gagements were  entered  into,  on  the  part  of  his 
majesty,  as  connected  with  the  treaty,  except  suck 
as  appear  upon  the  face  of  it."^ 

The  American  government,  however,  with  un- 
.ahating  solicitude  for  peace,  urged  an  immediate 
renewal  of  the  negociatioos  on  the  basis  of  tha 
abortive  treaty,  until  this  course  wds  peremptorily, 
declared,  by  the  British  government^  to  be  ^^whoU 

ly  inadmissiWe.'^t 

But,  independent  of  the  silence  of  the  proposed 
treaty,  upon  the  great  topic  of  American  com- 
plaint, and  of  the  view  which  has  been  taken  of 
the  projected  substitute ;  the  contemporaneous' 
declaration  of  the  British  commissioners,  deliv- 
ered by  the  command  of  their  sovereign,  and  to 
which  the  American  envoys  refused  to  make 
themselves  a  party,  or  to  give  the  slightest  de- 
gree of  sanction,  was  regarded  by  the  American 
government,  as  ample  cause  of  rejection.  In 
reference  to  the  French  decree,  which  had  been 
issued  at  Berlin,  on  the  21st  of  November,  iB06, 
it  was  declared  that  if  France  should  carry  the 
threats  of  that  decree  into  execution,  and  if 
<<  neutral  nations,  contrary  to  all  expec(ation,< 
should  acquiesoe  in  such  usurpations,  his  majesty 
mighty  probably^  be  compelled,  however  reluc- 

*Sce  Mr.  Canning's  letter  to  the  American  envoy  s, 
dated  Srth  October  1807. 
tSee  the  ssime  letter. 


.-' 


»; 


i,  .' 


I"' 


i;: 


H 


l| 


a 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


'1 

iil 

w 


!:i 


i..'i 

^ 


I- 


tsMitly,to  retaliate^  in  (iib  ixist  defei^cQ,  and  ip 
adopt)  in  regard  to  the  commerce  of  neutral  na- 
tionS)  witb  liis  eneR;:ies«  the  same  ine9^9ure»9  whiob 
those  Qations  sliould  have  permitted  to  Ue  enforc- 
^df  againat  their  commerce  with  l|is  subjects  :'^ 
**  that  hh  majeatj  oould  not  enter  intQ  the  stipu- 
lations of  the  present  treatj^i^ithoutan  cxplana- 
ttipn  from  the  United  States  of  their  iotentionSj» 
or  a  rcservsitioQ  on  the  pi^rt  of  his  msyesty*  it^ 
the  case  ahQvc  mentionei^)  if  it  sliQuld  ever  occi^r/' 
and  <«  that  without  ^  formal  ^bai^^onmenty  or  tacr 
it  relinquishment  of  the  UPJMSt  pretensions  of 
France  ;  or  without  suc)|  conduct  and  assuran- 
ces upon  the  part  of  the  United  StatiB9»  as  shoulf) 
give  security  to  his  majesty,  tb^t  tj^ey  would  not 
submit  to  this  French  innovatiQUs,  in  the  estab- 
lished system  of  maritime  law5»  bisf  KiSMesty  would 
not  consider  himself  bound  by  the  preseiit  signa- 
ture Qf  his  commissioners,  to  ratify  the  treaty,  or 
precluded  from  adoptit|g  such  measures  ^s  might 
seem  necessary  far  eounterac^ting  the  designs  of 
the  enemy."* 

The  reservation  of  apowcr,tp  in  validate  a  sol- 
emn treaty,  at  the  pleasure  of  oj?e  of  the  parties 
and  the  menaces  of  inflicting  punishment  uppp 
the  United  States,  for  the  offences  of  another  na- 
tion,j>ro¥ed,  in  the  event,  a  prelude  to  the  scenes 
of  violence,  which  Great  Britain  waa  then  about 
to  display,  and  which  it  would  have  been  improp- 
er for  the  American  negociators  to  anticipate* 
For,  if  a  commentary  were  wanting  to  explain 
the  real  design  of  such  conduct^  it  WQuld  be  found 
in  the  f\ict,  that  within  eight  days  from  the  date 
of  the  treaty,  and  before  it  was  possible  for  the 
JBritish  government  to  have  known  t^e  eilect  of 


♦See  the  note  of  the  British  commissioners  ^atedthe 
3 1  St  December,  1 806.  See  al^o  t,he  |^i)^wer  .pf  .]^!Qss]?9> 
Monroe  and  Pinkney  to  that  note. 


m 


AMERICAN  EKPOSE. 


4S 


the  Berlin  decree  on  the  American  government ; 
nay,  even  before  the  American  government  had 
itself  heard  of  that  decree,  the  destruction  of 
American  commerce  was  eommeneed  by  the  order 
in  council  of  the 7th  of  January,  1807,  which  an- 
nouneed^  >*  that  no  vessel  should  be  permitted  to 
trade  from  one  port  to  another,  both  .which  pur<8 
should  belong  to,  or  be  in  possession  of  France, 
or  her  allies  :  or  should  be  so  far  untler  their 
control,  as  that  British  vessels  might  not  trade 
freely  thereat.'** 

During  the  whole  period  of  this  negociation, 
which  did  not  finally  close  until  the  British  gov- 
ernment declared,  in  (he  month  of  October,  1807, 
that  negociation  was  no  h  nger  admissible,  the 
course  pursued  \^  the  British  sqnadnyn,  stationed 
more  imuiediately  on  the  American  coast,  was  in 
the  extreme,  vexatious,  predatory  and  hostile. 
The  torriti)rial  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States, 
extending,  upon  the  principles  of  (he  law  of  na- 
tions, at  least  a  league  over  the  adjacent  ocean, 
was  totally  disregarded  and  contemned.  Vessels 
einployed  in  the  coasting  trade,  or  in  the  busi* 
nei»s  of  the  pilot  and  the  fisherman,  were  objects 
of  incessant  violence  ;  their  petty  cargoes  were 
plundered  ;  and  "ome  of  their  scanty  crews  were 
often,  either  impressed,  or  wounded,  or  killed,  by 
the  force  of  British  frigates. — British  ships  of 
war  hovered,  in  warlike  display,  upon  the  coast ;, 
blockaded  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  so  thai 
no  vessel  could  enter  or  depart  in  safety  ;  pene- 
trated the  bays  and  rivers,  and  even  anchored  in 
the  harbors,  of  the  United  States,  to  exercise  a 
jurisdiction  of  impressment;  threatened  the 
towns  and  villages  with  conflagration  ;  and  wan- 
tonly discharged  musketry,  as  well  as  cannon,  up- 
on the  inhabi^nts  of  an  opeUf    and  unprotected 

*Sc;e  the  order  in  council  of  January  7,  1807. 


7 


IV 


':ij 
1$'^ 


J: 


m 


u  amehtcan;  i&xfo&e. 

Country*  The  neutralit^r  i^  (he  Ameriean  tericHer^r 
l¥as  violated  oil  evei'^i  occasion.:  and^  ai  iaslt  tJie 
American  government  was  dooroed  to  suffer  (be 
greatest  indignity  vhioli  could  be  ofiered  to  a  sov- 
ereign and  indc|ien(lent  nation,  in  the  ever  memor- 
able attack  of  a  B<iti»h. fifty  gun  ship,  under  the 
countenance  of  (he  British  squadroxiy  anchored 
within  the  waters  of  (he  Viiitsjd  States^  upon  tbfe 
frigate  Chesapeake,  peae.enbly  pros«*cuting  a  dis*- 
tiint  voyage.  The  Brilt^^h  govern«*ei>t  affected^ 
from  time  to  time,  to  disapprove  and  condemn 
these  outrages  ;  but  the  ofiisers  who  perpetrated 
them  were  generally  applauded  5  if  tried,  (hey 
"were  acquitted  ;  if  removed  from  the  American 
station,  it  was  only  to  bi^  promoted  in  another 
station 7  and  if  atonement  were  otFered>  as  in  the 
flagi*ant  instanee  of  the  frigate  Chesapeake,  the 
atoneml^nt  was  so  ungracious  in  the  manner^  and 
so  tardy  in  the  result,  as  to  betray  the  want  of 
that  eonciliatory  spirit  which  ought  to  have  ehar* 
acterized  it.* 

But  the  Ameriean  government,  soothing  the 
exasperated  spivit  of  the  people,  by  a  proclama- 
tion-which  interdicted  the  entrai^eof  all  British 
armed  vessels,  into  the  bariiors  and  waters  of  the 
IJniied  Btates.f  neither  commenced  hostilities  a- 
gainst  Great  Britain  ;  nor  sought  a  defensive  rd- 
lianco  with  France  ;  nor  relaxed  in  its  firm,  hut 
conciliatory,  efibrts,  to  enforce  the  claims  of  jus* 
ticc,  upon  the  honor  of  both  nations* 

*See  the  evidence  of  these  facts,  ijeported  to  con- 
gress in  November  1806. 

See  the  dpcument*  uespjBcUng  captsan  !Lovc,  of  the 
Driver  ;  captjuin  Wbitby,  of  the  Leander. 

See,  also,  the  correspondence  respecting  the  frigate 
Chesapeake,  with  Mr.  Caiiqing,  at  London  ;  with  Mr. 
Rose,  at  Washington ;  with  Mr.  Erakine,  at  Wash- 
ington. 

tvSee  the  proclamation  of  the  9dor  Julys  1907. 


'\\ 


I  \  \ 


AM£R1CAN  EXPOSE. 


47 


\f  iiie 
the 

sov- 

ior- 
the 

ored 
ihh 

flis*- 

ied> 
leina 
lated 

bey 
leaa 

her 

the 

tho 
land 
t  of 


The  rival  ambition  of Cr peat  Britainand Franeet 
■owtboweveryapproaehed  llie  oonsHininatioii^wliich 
involving  the  destruction  ot*  all  neutral  rights, 
upon  an  avowed  principle  of  aotion^  oould  not  fail 
to  render  an  actual  state  of  war,  eompi^^ratively, 
more  safe,  and  more  prosperous,  than  the  imagi* 
Bary  state  of  ^iiee,  to  whieh  neutrals  were  re* 
duced.  The  just  and  impartial  conduet  of  a  neu- 
tral nation,  ceased  to  be  its  shield,  and  its  safe- 
guard, when  the  conduet  of  the  belligerent  powers 
towards  each  other  beeaine  the  only  criterion  of 
the  law  of  war.  The  wrong  committed  by  one 
of  the  belligerent  powers  was  thus  made  the  sig- 
nal for  the  perpetration  of  a  greater  wrong  by 
the  other  ;  and  if  the  American  gOTernment  com- 
plained to  both  powers,  their  answer,  although  it 
never  denied  the  causes  of  complaint,  invariably 
retorted  an  idle  and  offensive  inquiry,  into  the 
priority  of  their  respective  aggressions  ;  or  each 
demanded  a  course  of  resistance  against  its  antag^ 
oniht,  which  was  calculattd  to  prostrate  the  A- 
merican  government  and  eoerco  thoUniled  States, 
against  their  interest  and  their  policy,  into  be- 
coming an  associate  in  the  war.  But  the  Amer- 
ican governiTient  never  did^  and  never  ean,  admit, 
that  a  belligerent  power*  <<  in  taking  steps  to  re- 
strain the  violence  of  its  enemy,  and  to  retort 
upon  them  the  evils  of  their  own  injuslice,**'*^'  is 
entitled  to  disturb  and  to  destroy,  the  rightsof  a 
neutral  power,  as  recognized  and  established,  by 
the  law  of  nations,  it  was  impossible  indee  j, 
that  the  r«^al  features  of  the  miscalled  retaliatory 
system  should  be  long  masked  from  the  world  ; 
when  Great-Britain^  even  in  her  acts  of  profes- 
sed ret  iJiation,  «!eclared,  that  France  was  unable 
to  executes  the  hostile  denuaolations  of  her  de- 
crees;! and  when  Great  Britain  herself  Hnblush- 

♦■See  the  orders  in  council  of  the  Tth  of  January,  18Q7. 
|Sec  the  orders  in  council  of  the  Tth  of  January,  IS^f* 


♦^f 


^ 


^■'' 


U'-. 


m. 


?'. 


I: 


4S 


AMEKICAN  EXPOSE. 


hi-. 


J'M, 


ingly  entered  into  the  same  cominerce  with  her 
enemj  (through  the  uiefHum  of  forgeries,  perjii- 
riesy  and  licenses)  from  which  she  had  interdic- 
ted unoffending  neutrals.  The  pride  of  naval  su- 
periority ;  and  the  cravings  of  commercial  mo- 
nopoly ;  gave,  after  all,  the  impulse  and  direction 
to  the  councils  of  the  British  cabinet  ;  while  the 
vast,  although  visionary,  projects  of  France,  fur- 
nished occasions  and  pretexts,  for  accomplishing 
the  objects  of  those  councils. 

The  British  minister  resident  at  "Washington  in 
the  year  180^,  having  distinctly  recognized,  in 
the  name  of  his  sovereign,  the  legitimate  princi- 
ples of  blockade,  the  American  government  re- 
ceived with  some  surprise  and  solicitude,  the  suc- 
tsessive  notifications  of  the  9th  of  August  1804, 
the  8th  of  April,  1866,  and  more  particularly, 
of  the  16th  of  May,  1806,  announcing  by  the  last 
notification,  <<  a  blockade  of  the  coast,  rivers  and 
ports  from  the  liver  Elbe  to  the  port  of  Brest, 
both  inclusive."!  In  none  of  the  notified  instances 
of  blockade,  were  the  principles,  that  had  been 
recognized  in  1804,  adopted  and  pursued,  and  it 
will  be  recollected  by  all  Furope,  that  neither  at 
the  time  of  the  notification  of  the  16th  of  May, 
1806  ;  nor  at  the  time  of  excepting;  the  Elbe  and 
Ems,  from  the  operation  of  that  notifieation  ;^. 
nor  at  any  other  time  during  the  continuance  of 
the  French  war,  was  there  an  adequate  naval 
force,  actually  applied  h\  Great  Britain,  for  the 
purpose  of  maintaining  a  blockade,  from  the  river 

fSee  lord  Harrowby's  not©  to  Mr.  ''^onroe,  dated  the 
9th  of  August,  1804,  and  Mr  Fox's  notes  to  Mr.  Mon- 
roe, dated  respectively  the  8th  of  April,  and  the  1 6th 
of  May,  1806. 

tSee  lord  Howick's  note  to  Mr.  Monroef  dated  the 
25th  September,  1806. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


49 


her 
^rjii. 

^dic- 

811- 

mo- 

\t\on 

the 

Ifup- 


Filbe^  to  the  port  of  BrcsL  It  \va9  then  in  the 
language  of  tfje  day,  •*  a  mere  paper  lih..  kiKJc  ^" 
a  manfest  infraction  of  the  Jaw  uT  nut  ions  ;  and 
an  act  of  petuliar  injustice  to  (ho  Unitid  States, 
as  the  only  neutral  power,  against  which  it  would 
practically  operate.  But  whatever  may  have 
been  the  sense  of  the  Anaeriean  govfrnmcnt  on- 
the  occasion  |  aud  whatever  might  he  the  dispo> 
shion,  to  avoid  making  this  thegn^nvd  of4in  oiwti 
Tiipturo  with  Great  Britain^  the  ease  assumed  a 
charactelllf  the  highest  interest^  when  indepen- 
dent of  its  own  injurious  consequences,  France 
in  the  Berlin  decree  of  the  Sl^st  of  November^ 
ISOS,  recited  as  a  chief  cause  for  placing  tho 
British  islands  in  a  state  of  blockade,  **  that 
Great  Britain  declares  blockaded,  places  beforo 
Avhioh  she  has  not  a  single  vessel  of  war  ;  and 
even  places  wliieh  her  unrtejd  forces  would  he  in- 
capable of  blockading  ;  such  as  entire  coasts,  and 
a  whole  empire  ^  an  unequalled  abuse  of  the  right 
of  blockade,  that  had  no  other  object,  than  to  in- 
terrupt the  communications  of  different  nations  ; 
and  to  extend  the  commerce  and  industry  of  I'  ng- 
land,  upon  the  ruin  of  those  nations."'*?^  The  A- 
merican  p;ov«rnment  aims  not,  and  never  has 
aimed  at  the  justification,  either  of  Great  Biit- 
ain  or  of  France,  in  their  career  of  crimination 
and  recrimination  ;  but  it  is  of  some  importance 
to  observe,  that  if  the  bloekaile  «f  May  ±806, 
was  an  unlawful  blockade,  and  if  the  right  of  re- 
taliation arose  with  the  first  unlawful  attack, 
made  by  a  belligerent  power  upon  nemr'al  rights« 
Great  Britain  has  yet  to  answer  to  mankind,  ac- 
cording to  the  rule  of  her  own  acknowledgment, 
for  all  the  calamities  of  the  retaliatory  warfare. 
France,  whether  right,  or  wrong,  made  the  Brit- 

*See  the  Berlin  decree  of  the  2 1st  November,  1806. 


* 


i  , 


r 


'# 


li 

V 


^F)ir 


90 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


If 


isti  system  of  blockade^  the  foundation  of  the 
Berlin  (li;'ree ;  and  France  had  an  equal  right 
with  Great  Britain  to  demand  from  the  United 
S(aie8,  an  opposition  to  everj  eneroaehment  upon 
the  privileges  of  the  neutral  character.  It  is 
enough,  hoiveyer^  on  the  present  occasion^  for  the 
American  government^  to  obsenrey  thai  it  posses- 
se<i  no  power  to  prevent  the  framing  of  the  Ber- 
lin decree,  and  to  disclaim  any  approbation  of  it* 
principles^  or  aequieseence  in  its  openi^[|ins  :  for 
it  neither  belonged  to  Great  Britain  noiHi  France 
to  prescribe  to  the  American  government,  the 
time  or  the  mode,  or  the  degree  of  resistance,  to 
the  indignities,  und  the  outrages,  ivilh  v^bich  each 
of  those  nations  in  its  turn  assailed  the  United 
States. 

But  it  has  been  shown,  that  aftel*  the  Britisli 
government  possessed  .a  knowledge  of  tbe  exist- 
ence of  the  Berlin  decree,  it  authorized  the  con- 
clusion of  the  treaty  with  the  United  States 
which  was  signed,  at  London,  on  the  31st  of  De- 
cember, 1806,  reserving  to  itself  the  powtr  of 
annulling  (he  treaty,  if  France  did  not  revoke, 
or  if  the  United  States,  as  a  neutral  power,  did 
not  resist,  the  obnoxious  measure.  It  has,  alsoy 
been  shown,  that  before  Qreat  Britain  could  pos- 
sibly ascertain  the  determination  of  the  United 
States,  in  relation  to  the  Berlin  decree,  the  orders 
in  council  of  th^  7th  of  January,  1807,  were  issu^- 
ed,  professing  to  be  a  retaliation  against  France^ 
^<  at  a  time  when  the  fleets  of  Franco  and  her  al- 
lies were  themselves  confined  within  their  own 
ports,  by  the  superior  valor  ainl  discipline  of  the 
British  navy,"*  but  operatingjin  fact ,ap air. *«t  the 
United  States,  as  a  neutral  poVver,  to  prohibit 
their  trade  «<  fk'om  a  due  port  to  another,  both 

*See  the  ordet  in  council  of  the  7th  of  January, 

1807. 


X 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


51 


the 
ight 
iteil 
pon 
Ms 
the 


w&idkports  should  belong^  to,  or  be  in  the  posses<- 
»ioii  off  Fra"  ^  or  her  allies*  or  should  be  so  far 
voder  their  x^uulrots,  as  that  British  vessels  might 
not  trade  freely  thereat.'**  It  remains,  however, 
to  be  stated,  that  it  was  not  until  the  12th  of 
March,  1807,  thai  the  British  minister,  then  re- 
siding at  Washington,  communicated  to  the  A- 
meriean  government,  in  the  name  of  his  sove- 
reign, the  otders  in  council  of  January,  1807, 
M^ith  an  intimation,  that  stronger  measures  would 
be  pursued,  unless  the  United  States  should  re- 
ftifit  the  operations  of  the  BerUn  decree.  }^  At  the 
moment,  the  British  government  v^as  reminded, 
<<  that  wltbin  tbe  period  of  those  great  events, 
which  oontiniiod  to  agitate  Europe^  instances  had 
oocurredj  in  whieh  theeommeree  of  neutral  na- 
tions, more  especially  of  the  United  States,  had 
Gifperjended  the  severest  distresses  from  its  own 
orders  and  measures^  manifestly  unauthorized  bjr 
the  law  of  nations  ;^  assurances  were  given^ 
*'  that  no  culpable  acquieseence  on  the  p-  rt  of 
t7  ^Jnited  States  would  render  them  accessary  to 
ti4w  firoceedings  of  one  belligerent  nation,  through 
their  rights  of  neutrality,  against  the  commerce 
of  its  aiYversary  ;  and  the  right  of  Great  Britain 
to  issue  such  orders,  unless  as  orders  of  blockade, 
to  be  enforced  according  to  tlieJaw  of  nations^ 
was  utterly  denied^ 

This  candid  and  explicit  avowal  of  the  senti- 
ments of  the  American  government,  upon  an  occa- 
sion, so  novel  and  important  in  the  history  of  na- 
tions, did  not,  however,  make  its  just  impression 
upon  the  British  cabinet!  for,  without  assigning 

*See  the  order  in  council  of  the  7th  of  January, 
1807. 

fSee  Mr.  lirskine's  letter  to  the  secretary  of  state, 
dated  the  12th  of  March,  1807. 

tSee  the  secretary  of  state's  letter  to   Mr.  Ersklne, 


.-f 


#:f? 


r 


I?' 


■^    Tt  «• 


_  1.         ■»   -v^xr 


B£U 


4» 


^t 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


any  new  provocation  o\\  the  part  o^  l^ranoei  and 
€omplairnn^v  mevely,  that  neutra]  powers  had  not 
boea  induced  to  interpose^  with  <'tfect,  to  obtda 
a  I  evocation  of  the  Berlin  decree,  (whiehy  howev- 
^er,  Great  Britain  had  affirmed  to  be  a  decree 
noRiinai  and  inoperative)  the  orders  in  council  of 
the  11th  No-vember,  1807,  were  issued,  deciaringy 
*^  that  aU  the  ports  and  places  of  ^France  tnd  her 
allies,  or  of  any  other  country  at  war  with  his 
jitajesty,  and  all  other  ports  or  places  in  Europe, 
from  ^vu'eh  although  not  at  war  with  his  majesty, 
the  British  flag  was  excluded,  and  all  ^>orts  or 
places  in  the  eolop'.es  belonging  to  his  majesty's 
enemies,  should,  fi'om  thenceforth,  be  subject  to 
the  8arne  restrictions,  in  point  of  trade  and  navi- 
gation, 'c'sirthesame  were  actually  blockaded  by 
bis  majesty's  navat  forces,  invhe  most  strict  and 
rigorous  manner  :"  that  "all  <rade  in  articles 
which  were  the  produce  or  manufacture  cf  the 
said  countries  or  colonies,  should  be  deemed  and 
considered  to  be  unlawful :"  but  that  neutral  ves^ 
sels  shouid  still  be  permitted  to  trade  with 
Fi'iinee  iVom  certain  free  ports,  or  ihrough 
por(o  and  places  of  the  British  dominions."^ 
To  aeoept  the  lawful  enjoyment  of  a  right, 
as  the  j^raiit  of  a  superior ;  to  prosecute  a 
iawrul  eoiRnx>!ce  under  the  forms  of  favor  and 
indiil^eneo;  and  to  pay  a  tribute  to  Great-Brit- 
ain, Vov  the  privilege  of  a  lawful  transit  on  the 
ocean ,  Avcro  eoneessious,  which  Great  Britain 
was  disposed,  insidiously,  to  exact,  by  an  appeal 
to  ihe  cupidity  of  individuals,  but  whi^jh  the  17- 
^nited  States  ould  never  yield  ;  consistently  with 
the  independenee  and  sovereignty  of  the  nation. 
Tbe  orders  in  council  were,  therefore,  altered   in 


♦S^e  the  o'rdvFS  ia  council  of  the    llth  of  Novem- 
ber, 18C7, 


AMMlCAlSr  EXPOSE. 


u 


tbis  iNespeotj  at  a  subsequent  period  i^  but  the 
general  interdict  of  neutral  commeref^  applyrog^. 
mere  especially  to  American  eommercey  vraa  ob- 
stinateljr  maintained,  agpJnst  all  the  force  af  rca- 
son,  of  renionstranee,  and  of  protestation,  em- 
ployed by  'he  American  gc^vernment,  when  the 
subject  \vas  presented  to  its  eonsiddration,  by  the 
British  minister  residing  at  Washington.  I^h^ 
fact  assumed  as  the  basis  of  the  orders  in  council 
was  unequivocally  disowned  f  and  it  was  demcn- 
strated,  that  so  far  from  its  beinj^  true,  <<  that  \.h«^ 
United  States  had  acquiesced  in  the  illegal  ope- 
ration of  the  Berlin  decree,  it  was  not  even  true 
that  at  the  date  of  the  British  oiMlers  of  the  11th 
of  November,  1807,  a  single  application  of  that 
decree  to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States,  on 
the  high  seas,  could  have  been  known  to  the 
British  government ;"  while  the  British  gevern- 
menthr'*  been  officially  informed  by  the  Ameri- 
€an  minister  at  London,  ^^  that  explanations,  un- 
contradicted by  any  overt  act,  had  been  given  to 
the  American  minister  at  Paris,  which  justified  a 
reliance  that  the  French  decree  would  not  be  put 
in  force  against  the  United  States. -'f 

The  British  orders  of  the  11th  cf  Novembern 
±807,  wero  quickly  followed  by  the  French  de- 
cree of  Milan,  daiad  the  17th  of  December.  1807, 
<*  whidi  was  said  to  be  resorted  to,  only  in  just 
retaliation  of  the  barbarous  system  adopted  by 
England,'^  and  in  which  the  denationalizing  ten- 
dency of  the  orders,  is  made  the  foundation  of  a 
declaration  in  the  decree,  <<  that  every  ship  to 

•See  Mr.  Canning's  letter  to  Mr.  Hnkney,  23r!  Feb- 
i^uary,  1808. 

tSee  Mr.  ErsKine's  letter  to  the  secretary  of  state, 
dated  22d  of  February,  1808;  and  the  answer  of  the 
secretary  of  sji^teri^^ted  the  ^5th  pf  Ma^h,  1808« 


I 


}ib. 


m 


K  > 

fS's' 


':$■■ 

Af 


m 

ilk  if- 

'rim 


•*' 


* 


54 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


whatever  fiaiion  it  might  belong,  that  ^honld  ha?e 
submitted  to  be  searched  bj  an  English  ship,  or 
to  a  voye.ge  to  England,  or  should  have  paid  any 
tax  vrhatsoever  to  the  English  government,  was 
thereby,  and  for  that  alone,  declared  ta  be  dena- 
tionalized, to  have  forfeited  the  piotection  of  its 
sovereign,  and  to  have  become  English  property, 
subject  to  capture  as  gooti  and  lawful  prize  :  that 
the  British  Islands  were  placed  in  a  state  of  block* 
ade,  both  by  sea  and  land — and  everj  ship,  of 
whatever  nation,  or  whatever  the  nature  of  its 
c5U'go  miglit  be,  that  sails  from  the  ports  of  Eng- 
land, or  those  of  the  English  colonies,  and  of  the 
countiies  occupied  by  English  troops,  and  pro- 
ceeding to  England,  or  to  the  English  colonies, 
or  to  countries  oeenpied  by  Eiiglish  troops,  should 
be  good  and  lawful  prize  :  but  the  provisions  of 
the  decree  should  be  abrogated  and  null,  in  fact; 
as  soon  as  the  English  should  abide  again  by  the 
principles  of  the  law  of  nations,  v'hich  are,  also, 
the  prineiples  of  justice  and  honor."^  In  oppo- 
siti^m,  however,  to  the  Milan  decree,  as  well  a» 
to  the  Berlin  decree,  the  American  government 
strenuously  and  unceasingly  emp'ioyed  every  in- 
strument except  the  instrument  of  war.  It  act- 
ed precisely  towards  France,  as  it  aeted  towards 
Great  Britain  on^  similar  oeeasious  ;  but  France 
remained,  for  a  time,  as  insensible  to  the  claims 
of  justice  and  honor,  as  Great  Britain,  each  imi- 
tating th€  other,  in  extravagance  of  pratensions, 
and  in  obstinacy  of  purpose. 

When  the  American  government  received  in- 
telligence, that  the  orders  of  the  11th  of  Novem'« 
her,  1807,  had  been  under  the  consideration  of  the 
British  cabinet,  and  were  actually  prepared  for- 
promulgation,  it  was  anticipated  that  France,  in 

♦See  the  Milan  decree  of  the   I7th  of  December, 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


55 


a  zealous  prosecution  of  the  retaliatory  warfarCf 
irouid  soon  produce  an  act  of>  at  least>  equal  in< 
justice  and  hostility.  The  crisis  existed,  there- 
fure,  at  which  the  United  States  were  compelled 
to  decide  either  to  withdraw  their  seafarlns  citi- 
zens, and  their  commercial  weahh  froiji  ilie  o- 
cean,  or  to  leave  the  interests  of  the  mariner  and 
the  merchant  exposed  to  certain  destruction ;  or 
to  engage  in  open  and  active  war,  for  the  protec- 
tion and  defence  of  those  interests.  The  princi- 
ples and  the  habits  of  the  American  goTcrnment, 
were  still  disposed  to  neutrality  and  peace.  ^  In 
weighing  the  nature  and  the  amount  of  the  ag- 
gressions, which  had  heen  perpetrated,  or  which 
were  threatened,  if  there  were  any  preponderance 
to  determine  the  balance,  against  one  of  the  bel- 
ligerent powers,  rather  than  the  other,  as  the  ob-* 
ject  oC  a  deeiaratioD  of  war ;  it  was  against 
Great-Britain,  at  least,  upon  the  yital  interest 9 
of  impressment)  and  the  obvious  superiority  of 
her  naval  mea'ns  of  annoyance.  The  French  de- 
crees were,  indeed,  as  obnoxious  in  vheir  forma- 
tion and  design  as  tlH;  British  orders;  but  the 
government  of  France  claimed  and  exercised  no 
right  of  impressment  ;  and  the  maritime  spoliw 
ations  of  France  were  comparatively  restricted 
not  only  by  her  own  weakness  on  the  occpo,  but 
by  the  constant  and  pervading  vigilance  ^  the 
fleets  of  her  enemy.  The  difficulty  of  selection  ; 
the  indiscretion  of  encountering,  at  once,  both  of 
the  o^nding  powers  ;  and,  above  all,  the  hope  of 
an  early  returrj  of  justice,  under  the  dispensations^ 
of  the  ancient  public  law,  prevailed  in  Hie  coun- 
cils of  the  American  government  ;■  ar^d  it  was  re^ 
solved  to  attempt  the  preservation  of  its  neutrali- 
ity  and  its  peace  ;  of  its  citizens,  and  its  i*esourc- 
es;  by  a  voluntary  suspension  of  the  commerce 
and  Davigation  of  the  United  States^  It  ]» true* 
that  for  the  miiior  outrages  o^mniitted^  under  tbe 


1fi 


f 


*il 


% 


I 


;l 


66 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


r  V 


pretext  of  tke  rale  of  the  war  of  1756,  the  ijiti- 
zens  of  overj  denoHiinaiioii  had  iletnaDded  from 
their  goverBE)&nt»  in  the  year  imB,  protection 
and  redress ;  it  is  truoo  that  for  the  unparalleled 
enorinities  of  1807,  the  eiiiaens  of  every  4f  nom- 
ination again  demanded  protection  and  redress  : 
hut  it  is  also,  a  truths  eonelusively  established  by 
every  manifestation  of  the  sense  of  the  American 
people,  as  well  as  of  their  government,  that  any 
honorable  iricans  of  protection  and  redress,  were 
preferred  ta  the  last  resort  of  arms.  The  Amer- 
ican government  might  honorably  retire,  for  a 
time,  from  a  scene  of  cooftict  and  collision  ;  hut 
it  could  no  longer,  with  honor,  permit  its  ilag  te 
be  insulted,  its  citizens  to  be  enslaved,  and  its 
property  to  be  plundered,  on  the  high  way  of  na- 
tions. 

Under  these  iEapressiott8>  the  restrictive  system 
of  the  United  States,  was  introduced.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1807,  an  embargo  was  imposed  upon  all  A- 
merican  vessels  and  merchandise  l^  on  princi- 
ples similar  to  those,  which  originated  and  regu- 
lated the  embargo  law,  autUoi  iised  to  be  laid  by 
the  president  of  the  United  States,  in  the  year 
1794  :  bu?  soon  afterwards,  in  the  genuine  spirit 
of  the  policy,  that  prescribed  the  measure,  it  was 
declared  by  law,  "  that  in  the  event  of  such  peace, 
or  suspension  of  hostilities,  between  the  belliger- 
ent powers  of  Europe,  or  such  changes  in  their 
measures  aflTecting  neutral  commerce,  as  might 
render  that  of  the  Uncled  States  safe,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  president  of  the  Uniteil  States, 
he  was  authorised  to  suspend  the  embargo,  in 
whole  or  in  pa^t.'^|;    The  pressure  of  the  embargo 

♦See  the  act  of  congress  passed  the  22d  December 

fSee  the  actof  QOQgres^pafsed^theialtday  of  Marofa. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


^ 


om 
ion 
]ed 
m- 

ss  : 

by 

can 
ny 
ere 
er- 
ra 
ut 

it  9 
ma- 


was  thought,  hoTever^  so  severe  upon  every  part 
of  the  coQiinuniiy,^hat  the  American  governmentt 
notwithstanding  th^^  neutral  eharaeter  of  the 
measure^  dete i^iiined  upon  some  relaxation  ;  and^ 
accordingl^y  the  embargo  being  raised,  as  to  all 
othe/  nations,  a  system  of  non- intercourse  and 
non-importation  was  substituted  in  March,  1S09> 
as  to  Great  Britain  and  France^  which  prohibited 
all  voyages  to  the  British  or  French  dominions^ 
and  all  trade  in  articles  of  British  or  French  pro- 
duct or  manufacture.^  But  still  adhei-ing  to  the 
neutral  and  pacific  policy  of  tite  govcrnuient,  it 
was  declared,  *«  that  the  president  of  the  United 
States  should  be  autliorised  in  case  either  France 
0^  Great  Britain,  should  so  revoke,  or  modify^ 
her  edicts,  as  that  they  should  cease  to  violate:  the 
neutral  commerce  of  the  United  States,  to  declare 
the  same  by  proelamation  y  aftw  whieh  the  trade 
of  the  United  States  might  be  renewed  with  the 
nations  so  doing/'j  These  appeals  to  the  justice 
and  the  interests  of  the  belligerent  powers  prov- 
ing ineffectual ;  and  the  necessities  &f  the  country 
increasing,  it  was  finally  resolved  by  the  Ameri- 
c>un  government,  to  take  the  hazards  of  a  war  ; 
to  revoke  its  restrictive  system  ;  and  to  exclude 
British  and  Fi'ench  armed  vessels  from  the  har- 
bors and  waters  of  the  United  States  ;  but,  again, 
emphatically  to  announce,  «'  that  in  case  either 
Great  Britain  or  Franco  should,  heft»ro  tlie  $i\ 
of  March  1811,  so  revoke,  or  modify,  her  edicts, 
as  that  they  should  cease  to  violate  the  neutral 
commerce  of  the  United  States;  and  if  the  other 
nation  should  not  within  three  months  thereat^ter, 
so  revoke,  or  modify,  her  edicts,  in  like  manner," 
the  provisions   of  the  uon-intcreourse  and  nbn- 

*See  tlie  1 1th  section  cf  the  last  cited  act  of  congress. 
fSee  the  act  of  congress  passed  the  Ut  day  of  Mayi 
1809,  ^ 


H. 


m 


't 

I.    ,' 


«# 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


imporlatiDn  law  sliouId>  at  the  expiration  of  iKree 
noontbsy  be  revived  against  tbe  nation  refusingy  or 
neglecting,  to  revoke  or  modify  its  edicts."^ 

In  1  ho  course^  which  the  A  meiwan  government 
had  hitherto  pursued,  relative  to  the  beHigerent 
arders  and  decrees^  the  eandid  foreigner,  as  well 
^s  the  patriotic  fitizen,  may  perceive  an  extreme 
^olieitude,  for  the  preservation  of  peace  ;  but  id 
the  publicit3^9  and  ittipartialily,  of  the  overture^ 
that  M'd^  thus  spread  befoie  the  belljgereDt  po-w- 
er!|,  it  is  impossible^  that  any  indication  should  be 
£ound,  of  ipreign  influence  or  control.  The  over- 
iture  was  urged  upon  hoth  nations  for  aeceptanee^ 
«it  the  same  time^  and  m  the  same  manner;  nor 
was  an  liitiqiation  withheld,  from  either  of  them^ 
that  <<  It  might  he  regarded  by  the  belligerent 
first  aeeepting  it^  as  a  promise  to  itself,  and  ft 
warning  to  its  enemy. '*|  Eneh  of  the  nations^ 
itom  the  eomttien^emefit  of  the  veialmtory  sys- 
ieiB,  ackfiowledged,  that  its  measures  were  viola- 
tions of  piihlie  law ;  and  each  pledged  itself  to 
retract  them»  whenever  the  other  should  set  th« 
6xampie4  Although  the  American  government^ 
therefore,  pet^isted  in  its  remonstrances  against 
the  original  transgressions,  without  regard  to  the 
^estion  of  the  priority,  it  emhraoed,  with  eager^ 
ness,  every  hope  of  reconciling  the  interests  of 
the  rival  powers,  with  the  perfortnanoe  of  the 
duty  which  they  owed  to  th«  neutral  character  of 
the  United  States:  and  when  the  British  ininis- 
ter,  residing  at  Washington,  ia  the  year  1809, 
«ffii'iP«d,  in  terms  as  plain,  {^nd  as  positive,  as 

♦Seethe  act  of  congress,  passed  the  1st  day  of  May, 
1810. 

fSee  the  corr^jspondence  between  the  secretary  of 
state,  and  the  American  minsters  »t  London  and  Paris. 

^See  the  documents  laid  before  cojig^rcss  from  time 
to  time  by  the  president,  and  printed, 


<ill 


AMERICAH'  feXPOSE. 


language  eofuld  supply*  ^<  thai  he  was  aiHhdriseiT 
^0  deolarey  that  his  Britabnie  majesty^s  oriiers  in 
eoutieil  of  Jamiarjr  and  November,  1807,  will  have 
been  withdrawn,  as  it  respects  the  United  States, 
on  the  10th  of  June,  1809,''  the  president  of  the 
United  States  hastened,  with  approved  iiherality, 
to  aeeept  the  declaration  as  conclusive  evidence, 
that  the  promised  fact  would  exist,  at  the  stipula- 
ted period  ;  and.  by  aii  immediate  proclamation 
he  announced,  *<  that  after  the  10th. of  June  mext, 
the  trade  of  the  United  States  with  Great  Britain^ 
as  suspended  by  the  non-intercourse  law,  and  by 
the  acts  of  congress  laying  and  enforcing  an  em^ 
bargo,  might  be  renewed,*'*  The  American  gov- 
ernment neither  asked,  nor  received  from  tho 
British  minister,  an  ext^mplification  of  his  ptWers  ; 
an  inspection  of  instructions  ;  nor  the  solemnity 
of  an  order  in  council :  but  executed  the  compact 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  in  ait  the  sin-r 
eerSty  of  its  own  intentions  ;  and  it^  all  the  eonii-« 
dcmoe*  which  the  offittial  aet  of  th^"  representative 
of  his  Britannic  majesty,  was  ealeulated  to  Uti. 
spire.  The  act  and  the  authority  for  the  aet* 
were  however,  disavowed  by  Great  Britain  ;  WAd 
an  attempt  was  made  by  the  successor  of  £rsk- 
ine,  through  th^  fk\d  of  insinuations,  which  were 
indignantly  repulsed,  to  justify  the  Bi'itish  rejec- 
tion of  the  treaty  of  1B09,  by  referring  to  th^  A- 
merican  rejection  of  the  treaty  of  1806  ;  forget- 
ful of  the  essential  points  of  difference,  that  the 
British  governmcMt^  on  the  forkiier  occasion,  hadi 
been  explieitiy  apprized  by  the  American  negoci- 
ators  of  their  defeet  of  power }  ^nd  that  the  ere- 

*See  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Erskine,  the 
British  minister,  and  the  secretary  of  state,  on  tlie  l<7t!h, 
18th,  and  19th  of  April  180^^  cni  the  pl^sidonet 
proclamatioh  of  tine  test  date. 


I 


h 


U:: 


60 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


^ulion  of  the  projected  tiH^aty  had  not^  on  eitlMr 
side,  been  commenced.'^' 

After  tbrs  abortive  attempt  to  obtain  a  just  and 
honorable  revocation  of  the  British  orders  in 
oouncily  the  United  States  \irero  again  invited  to 
indulge  the  hope  of  safety  and  traDquillity,  when 
the  minister  of  France  announced  to  the  Ameri>- 
ean  minister  at  Paris,  that  in  consideration  of  the 
act  <»f  the  first  of  May,  1809,  by  which  the  con- 
gress of  the  United  States  <<  engaged  to  oppose 
itself  (o  that  one  of  the  belligerent  powers,  which 
should  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  rights  of  neu- 
trals, he  was  authorised  to  declare,  that  the  de- 
crees of  Berlin  and  Milan  were  revoked,  and  that 
after  the  1st  of  November,  1810,  they  would  cease 
to  have  efi\^ct ;  it  being  understood,  that  in  cou- 
sequence  of  that  declaration,  the  English  should 
revoke  their  orders  in  council,  and  renounce  the 
new  principles  of  blockade^  which  they  had  wish- 
ed to  establish  ;  or  that  the  United  States  con« 
formably  to  the  act  of  congress,  should  cause 
their  rights  to  be  respected  by  the  I  nglish/'f 
This  declaration  delivered  by  the  oflieial  organ 
of  the  government  of  France,  and  in  the  presence, 
as  it  were,  of  the  French  sovereign,  was  of  the 
highest  authority,  according  to  all  the  rules  of 
diplomatic  intercourse  ;  and  certainly,  far  sur- 
passed any  claim  of  credence  which  was  possessed 
by  the  British  minister  residing  at  \Va«)hington» 
when  the  arrangement  of  the  year  1809,  was  ac- 
cepted and  executed  by  the  American  govern- 
ment. The  president  of  the  United  Slates,  there- 
fore, owed  to  the  consistency  of  his  own  charae- 
ter^  and  to  the  dictates  of  a  sincere  impai  tiality, 

•See  the  correspondence  betwen  the  secretary  of 
state,  and  Mr.  Jackson,  the  British  minister. 

tSee  the  duke  de  Cadore's  letter  to  Mr.  Armstrong, 
dated  the  5th  of  August,  1 8 10. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


el 


$i  prompt  acoepCance  «f  theFreneh  overture  :  and 
aceerdingly,  the  authoritative  pr^misey  that  the 
i'act  should  exist  at  the  stipulated  period,  being 
again  admitted  as  ooaclusive  evidence  of  it b  oxist- 
«n^«9  a proelamatiou  was  issuod  on  the  2d  of  NoV- 
ember^  ISlOy  anAOunoing  '<  that  the  edicts  of 
France  had  been  eo  revoJied^  as  that  they  ceased 
«n  the  first  day  of  the  same  month,  to  vioJate  the 
neutral  eomnerce  of  the  United  States  ;  and  that 
all  the  restrictions  Imposed  by  the  aet  ofeongress^ 
should  then  ceas€  and  be  discontinued,  in  relation 
to  France  and  her  dependcneies."*  That  FrL^ine, 
from  thisepoehy  refrained  from  all  aggression s.oit 
the  high  seas,  or  even  in  her  own  ports,  upon  tbo 
persons  and  the  property  of  the  citizens  of  the 
tJnited  States^  never  was  asserted ;  but  on  the 
<»ontrary,  her  violence  and  her  spoliations  have 
been  unoeasing  causes  of  complaint.  These  sub- 
sequent injuries,  constituting  a  part  of  the  exist- 
ing reclamations  of  the  United  States,  were,  al- 
ways, however,  disavowed  by  the  French  govern- 
ment ;  whilst  the  repeal  of  the  Berlin  and  Milan 
decrees  has,  on  every  occasion,  been  ailirmed  ; 
insomuch  that  Great  Britain  her^ielf  was,  nt  lastj 
compelled  to  yield  to  the  evidence  of  the  fact. 

On  the  expiration  of  three  months  from  the 
date  of  the  president's  proclamation,  the  non-in- 
tercourse and  non-importation  law  was,  of  course, 
to  be  revived  against  Gre^it  Britain,  unless,  dur- 
ing that  period,  her  orders  in  council  should  be  re- 
voked. The  subject  was,  therefore,  m&st  anxious- 
ly aad  most  steadily  pressed  upon  the  JustiiK?  and 
magnanimity  of  the  British  governmeut  ;  and  even 
when  th«  hope  of  success  exj^ied,  by  the  lapse  of 
the  period  prescribed  in  one  act  of  congress,  the 
Uoitod  States  qpcned  the  door  of  recoiicHiation  j^y 

♦See  the  president's  procUmation  ef  the^of  N<i>v- 
emberi  1810. 

IB  ' 


m 


^ti 


If.' 


S'! 


'■•I 


i 


*' 


\ 


62 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


smother  aot,  Avliich^  in  the  year  1811 »  again  pro- 
vided^ thut  iu  case^  at  any  tiiney  **  Great  Britain 
should  revoke  or  modify  her  edicte,  as  that  they 
shall  cease  to  violate  the  neutral  commeree  of  the 
United  Slates  ;  the  president  of  the  United  States 
should  declare  the  fact  hy  proclamation  ;  and 
that  the  restrictions  previously  imposed,  should 
from  the  date  of  sueh  proclamation,  cease  and  be 
discontinued,"^  But  unhappily,  every  appeal  to 
the  justice  and  magnanimity  of  Great  Britain 
was  now,  as  heretofore,  fruitless  and  forlorn. 
She  had  at  this  epoch,  impressed  from  the  crews 
of  American  merchant  vessels^peaeeably  navigating 
the  high  seas,  not  less  than  six  thousand  mariners^ 
who  claimed  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  who  were  denied  all  opportunity  to  verify 
their  claims.  She  had  seized  and  confiscated  the 
commercial  property  of  American  citizens,  to  an 
incalculable  amount.  She  had  united  in  the  enor* 
mities  of  France,  to  declare  a  great  portion  of 
the  terraqueous  globe  in  a  state  of  hlockade  ; 
chasing  the  American  merchant  flag  effectually 
from  the  ocean.  She  had  contemptuously  disre- 
garded the  neutrality  of  the  American  territory, 
and  the  jurisdicdon  of  the  American  laws,  within 
the  waters  of  the  United  States.  She  was  enjoy- 
ing theenolumentsof  a  surreptitious  trade,8tained 
with  every  species  of  fraud  and  corruption,  which 
gave  to  the  belligerent  powers  the  advantages  of 
peace,  while  the  neutral  powers  were  involved  in 
the  evils  of  war.  She  had,  in  short,  usurped  and 
exercised  on  the  water,  a  tyranny  similar  to  that 
which  her  g^eat  antagonist  had  usurped  and  ^x- 
ereised  upon  the  land.  And,amidst  all  these  proofs 
of  ambition^  ant^  avarice,  she  demanded  that  the 
Yietims  of  her  usurpations  and  her  violence,  should 

'^ScQ  the  act  of  congress,  passed  th^  2d  of  March, 
18U. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


63 


0- 

iin 
he 


revere  her  as  the  sole  defender  of  (he  rights  and 
liberties  of  mankind. 

When,  therefore,  Great  Britain,  in  manifest 
violation  of  her  solemn  promises,  refused  to  fol- 
low (he  example  of  France,  by  the  repeal  of  her 
orders  in  council,  the  Ameriean  government  was 
compelled  to  contemplate  a  resort  to  arms,  as  the 
only  remaining  course  to  be  puisued  for  its  honor, 
its  independence,  and  its  safety.  "Wliatever  de- 
pended upon  the  United  States  themselves,  the 
United  States  had  performed  for  the  preservation 
of  peace,  in  resistance  of  the  Frenc-h  decrees,  as 
irell  as  of  the  British  orders.  What  had  been  re- 
quired from  France,  in  its  relation  to  the  neutral 
character  of  the  United  States,  France  had  per- 
formed, by  the  revocation  of  its  Berlin  and  Milan 
decrees.  But  what  depended  upon  Great  Britain, 
for  the  purposes  of  justice,  in  the  repeal  of  her  or- 
ders in  council,  was  withheld  |  and  new  evasions 
were  sought,  when  the  old  were  exhausted.  It 
was,  at  one  time,  alledged,  that  satisfactory  proof 
was  not  afforded,  that  France  had  repealed  her 
decrees  against  the  commerce  of  the  United 
States ;  as  if  such  proof  alone  were  wanting  to 
ensure  the  performance  of  the  British  promise.^ 
At  another  time,  it  was  insisted,  that  the  repeal 
of  the  French  decrees,  in  their  operation  against 
the  United  States,  in  order  to  authorise  a  demand 
for  the  performance  of  the  British  promise,  must; 
be  total,  applying  equally  to  their  internal  and 
external  effects  ;  as  if  the  United  States  had  ei- 
ther the  right,  or  power,  to  impose  upon  France 
the  law  of  her  domestic  institutions.!  And  it  was, 
finally,  insisted,  in  a  despatch  from  lord  Castle- 
reagh  to  the  British  minister,  residing  at  Washing- 

*Sec  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Pinkney  ami 
the  British  government. 

fSee  tile  letters  of  Mr.  Erskine. 


\M' 


t 


I 


'\u^' 


I 


61 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


ton,  in  t!io  year  1S12,  ^vhieh  was  oiRefally  eenv* 
munieated  to  the  Americnn  governmenty  '^  that  the 
decrees  of  Berlin  and  Milan  must  not  only  bo  re« 
pealed  singly  and  specially^  in  relation  to  (be  Uni- 
ted  States  ;  but  must  be  repealed,  also,  as  to  nil 
other  neutral  nations  ;  and  that  in  no  less  extent 
of  a  repeal  of  the  French  decrees,  bad  the  British 
government  ever  pledged  itself  to  repeal  the  or- 
ders in  council  ;^'^  as  if  it  were  inciirobent  on  the 
United  States,  not  only  to  assert  her  own  rights^ 
b;!T  to  bfcome  the  coadjutor  of  the  British  gov> 
ernnient  in  the  gratuitous  assertion  of  the  rights 
of  all  other  nations. 

The  congress  of  the  United  States  could  pause 
f)6  longer.  Und<?r  a  deep  and  ni3lieting  sense  of 
national  wrongs,  and  national  resent ments-^wbilo 
they  postponed  tlefinittve  measures  with  respect  to 
Fraoce,  in  the  expectation  that  the  result  of  un« 
closed  discussions,  between  the  American  minis- 
ter at  Paris,  aad  the  Freneh  goTernfoenty  would 
speedily  enable  them  to  decide,  with  greater  ad- 
vantage, on  the  course  due  to  the  rights,  the  inter- 
ests, and  the  honor  of  the  country  ;f  they  pro- 
nounced a  deliberate  and  solemn  declaration  of 
war,  between  Gi^at  Britain  and  thft  United  State* 
on  the  18th  of  June,  1812. 

But,  it  is  in  the  face  of  all  the  facts,  which  have 
been  displayed,  in  the  present  narrative,  that  the 
prince  regent,  by  his  declaration  of  January ,18iS9 
describes  the  United  States  as  the  aggressor  in 
the  war.  If  the  act  of  declaring  war,  constitutes, 
in  all  eases,  the  act  of  original  aggression,  tlie 
United  States  must  submit  to  the  severity  of  rc- 

•See  tlie  Goirespondence  between  the  secretary  of 
state  and  Mr.  Foster,  the  British  minister, in  June,  1812. 

t  See  the  preadent's  message  of  the  1  st  of  June,  1612: 
Sim]  the  report  of  the  Gommittee  of  foreign  relations,  to 
wliom  tlie  mesMge  was  referred* 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


65 


tho 


proach  :  but  if  the  act  of  declaring  war  may  be 
mere  trulj  considered,  as  the  result  of  long  sul- 
feriog,  and  necessary  self-dei'cnce,  the  Aroericao 
government  will  stand  acquitted^  in  the  sight  of 
Heaven,  and  of  the  world.  Have  the  United 
States,  then^  enslaved  thQ  subjects,  confiscated  the 
property,  prostrated  the  commerce,  insulted  the 
flag,  or  violated  the  territorial  sovereignly  of 
Great  Britain  ?  No  j  but  in  all  these  respects  the 
United  States  had  suffered,  for  a  long  period  of 
years,  previously  to  the  declaration  of  war,  the 
contumely  and  outrage  of  the  British  govern- 
ment. It  iKis  been  said,  too,  as  an  aggravation 
of  the  imputed  aggression,  that  the  United 
States  chose  a  period,  for  their  declaration  W 
war,  when  Great  Britain  was  struggling  for 
lier  own  existence,  against  a  power,  which  threat- 
ened to  overthrow  the  Independence  of  ail  Europe: 
but  it  might  bo  more  truly  said,  that  the  United 
States,  not  acting  upon  choice,  but  upon  compul- 
sion, delayed  the  declaration  of  war,  until  the 
persecutions  of  Great  Britain  had  rendered  fur- 
ther del  w.y  destructive  and  disgraceful.  Great 
Britain  Itid  converted  the  commercial  scenes  of 
American  opulence  and  prosperity,  into  scenes  of 
comparative  poverty  and  distress  ^  she  had  brought 
the  existence  of  the  United  States  as  an  indepen^ 
dent  nation,  into  question  ;  and,  surely,  it  must 
have  been  indifferent  to  the  United  States,  wheth- 
er they  ceased  to  exist  as  an  independent  nation, 
by  her  conduct,  while  she  professed  friendship,  or 
by  her  conduct,  when  she  avowed  enmity  and  re- 
venge. Nor  is  it  true,  that  the  existence  of  Great 
Britain  was  in  danger,  at  tjie  epoch  of  the  declar- 
ation of  war.  The  American  government  uni- 
formly entertained  an  opposite  opinion  ;  and,  at 
all  times,  saw  more  to  apprehend  for  the  United 
States,  from  her  niaratime  power,  than  frojn  the 
territorial  power  of  her  enemy.     The  event  has 


I. 

t 


^/y. 


m 


66 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


justiiied  the  epkiion^  and  the  appreiien^ion.  But 
vfhzt  the  United  States  asked,  as  essential  to  their 
welfare,  and  even  as  beneiieial  to  the  allies  of 
Great  Bntaiii,  in  the  EuTO[^?an  war,  Great  Bri- 
tniu«  it  h  manifest,  n  ight  hare  granted,  without 
impiiiiing  the  resources  of  her  own  strength,  or 
the  splondqr  of  her  own  sorereignty;  Ibr  her  orders 
in  ooiincii  hate  been  sinee  revoked  ;  not,  it  is  true, 
fts  the  perforniance  of  her  promise,  to  follow,  in 
this  respect,  the  exannple  of  France,  sinee  sho 
Hnally  rested  the  obligation  of  ttiat  promise,  upon 
the  repeal  of  the  French  decrees,  as  to  all  nations ; 
and  the  repeal  was  only  as  to  the  United  States  ; 
nor  ns  an  act  of  national  justice  towards  theUni* 
ted  States  ;  but,  simply,  as  an  ?^it  of  domestic 
poliey,  for  the  special  advantage  of  her  own 
people. 

The  British  government  ha«(,  also,  described 
the  war,  as  a  war  of  aggrandizement  and  eon- 
quest,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  :  but, 
where  is  the  foundation  for  the  charge  ?  "Whil© 
the  American  government  einpjoyied.^tvery  n^eans 
to  dissuade  the  Indians,  even  those  "Who  lived 
within  the  territoTy>  and  were  supplied  by  the 
bounty  of  the  United  States,  froitirtaking  any 
part  in  the  war,*  the  proofs  wore  irresistable, 
that  the  enemy  pursued  a  very  different  course  ;f 
and  that  eves7  precaution  would  be  necessary,  to 
prevent  the  effects  of  an  offensive  alliance,  be- 
tween the  British  troops  and  the  savages,  through- 
out the  northern  frontier  of  the  United  States,..^ 

*See  the  proceedings  of  the  councils,  held  with  the 
Indians,  during  the  expedition  under  brig.  gen.  Hull  ; 
and  the  talk  delivered  by  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  to  the  Six  Nations,  at  Washington,  on  tlie  8th 
April,  1813. 

tSee  the  documc'^ts  laid  before  «ongress^  cm  the  13th 
June,  181  J. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


€7 


|i  in 
sho 

jpon 


The  military  x)eeupAtioin  of  fJi^er  Canada  VfM, 
therefore  deemed  indsspensabl^  to  tbe  safety  of 
that  frontier^  i.^  the  earliest  mofements  of  the 
VfHTf  independent  of  all  views  of  extending  the 
territorial  boundEry  of  the  Uaited  Btatet.  But» 
when  war  was  deolared^  in  resentment  for  inju- 
ries>  which  had  been  suffered  upon  the  Atlantie, 
what  principle  of  public  laW;^  wliat  inodi^cation  of 
civilized  warfare,  imposed  upon  the  United  States 
th«  duty  of  abstaining  from  the  iavasioii  of  th« 
Canadas  ?  It  was  tiiere  aioae^  that  (he  tlnited 
States  could  place  tberaselves  upon  equal  footing 
of  nuiitary  force  with  Great  Britain  ;  and  it  was 
there,  that  they  might  reasonably  encourage  th^ 
hope  of  being  able,  in  the  prosecution  of  a  lawful 
retaliation,  ^<  to  restraiti  the  violinee  of  the  ene- 
iny,  and  to  retort  upon  him,  the  evils  of  his  orvo 
iojustice.^V  The  proclaro-ations  issued  hy  ikis  A- 
merican  comniandcrs,  on  entering  Upptr  4Janftda» 
have^  however,  been  adduced,  by  the  British  ne- 
gociators  at  Ghent,  as  the  proofs  of  a  spirit  of 
ambition  and  aggraadizement,  on  tliOiiart  of  their 
government.  In  trath,  the  prm^amations  were  net 
only  uaauthorised  and  disapproved,  but  were  in- 
fractions  of  the  positive  instructions,  which  had 
been  given  for  the  conduct  of  the  war  in  Canada. 
When  the  general,  commanding  the  north  western 
army  of  the  United  States,  received,  on  the  34th 
of  June,  1812;  his  first  authority  to  eommenee 
ofTensivo  operations,  he  was  espeeiaily  told,  <<  he 
must  not  consider  himself  authorised  to  pledge 
the  gbvernment  to  the  inhabitants  of  Canada, 
further  than  asauraaces  of  protection  in  their  per- 
sons, property,  and  rights."  And  on  ihc  ensriing 
1st  of  August,it  was  emphatically  declared  to  him, 
*^  that  it  ha<l  become  necessary,  that  he  should 
not  Lose  sig^ht  of  the  instructions  of  the  24th  of 
Jitne,  as  any  pletlge  beyofsd  that,  was  ineGmpatible 


t 


i.'j 


f'r 


^m 


i^' 


68 


AMERlCAf^  EXPdSfi. 


Dvith  the  views  of  the  government."*  Such  wis 
the  nature  of  the  charge  of  Ameriean  an^bition 
and  aggrandizeaient>  Am^  sueh  the  evid(?nce  to 
support  if. 

The  priooe  regent  has,  however^  en^deavcred  to 
add  to  those  unfounded  aceusations,  a  stigma^  at 
whieh  the  pride  of  the  American  governDtent  re- 
volts. Listening  to  the  fabrications  of  British 
eniisisaries  f  gathering  scandals  from  the  abuses 
of  a  free  press  ;  and  rdisled^  pci'haps,  hy  the  as* 
perities  of  a  party  spirit^  common  to  all  free  gov- 
ernments j  he  affects  lo  trace  the  origin  of  the 
war  to  <<  a  marked  partiality,  in  palliating  and  as- 
sisting the  aggressive  tyranny  of  Franee^  and  to 
the  prevalence  of  such  councils,  as  associated  the 
United  States,  in  policy,  with  the  government  of 
that  nation.'*!  The  conduct  of  the  Ameriean 
government  is  now  open  to  every  scrutiny  ^  and  its 
viudication  is  inseparable  from  a  knowledge  of 
the  facts.  All  the  world  must  be  sensible,  indeed, 
that  neither  in  the  general  policy  of  the  late  ruler 
of  France,  nor  in  bis  particular  treatment  of  the 
United  States,  eould  there  exist  any  political,  or 
rational  foundation,  for  the  sympathies  and  asso- 
ciationsi  overt  or  clandestine,  which  have  been 
rudely  and  unfairly  suggested.  It  Is  equally  ob- 
vious, that  nothing  short,  of  the  aggressive  tyr- 
anny, exercised  by  Great  Britain  towards  the 
United  States,  could  have  counteracted  and  con- 
trolled  those  tendencies  to  peace  and  amity^  which 
derived  their  impulse  from  natural  and  social 
causes  ;  combining  the  afiections  and  interests  r/f 
the   two  nations.    The  American    government, 

♦See  the  letter  from  the  secretary  of  the  war  depart- 
ment, to  brig.  gen.  Hull,  dated  the  24th  of  June,  ai^d 
the  1st  of  August,  1812. 

tSee  the  British  declaration,  o|  the  1 0th  ©f  January, 
1813. 


AMERICA!^  KXf 05E. 


m 


■  a 


as 

[ion 

to 

to 

at 

rc- 

ish 

scs 
as* 

V- 

iie 
a»- 

lo 

the 

of 

an 


Aiithful  to  tbiit  ppineiple  of  ^blio  hvf,  vliieh  ae- 
knowledges  the  authority  of  all  govei  nmentf  ^9r 
tabHshed  defacte;  and  een£(Mrining  it9  pra^Ucei  IB 
this  ras^cty  to  the  examplo  of  Europe^  bas  HH^^r 
contested  the  validity  of  the  governmenta  sueeent- 
sively  catablished  in  France  ;  nor  refrained  frovi 
that  intercourse  with  either  of  them^  which  tho 
just  interests  of  the  United  States  required.  But 
the  British  cabinet  is  challenged  to  produce^  from 
the  recesses  of  its  secret^  or  of  its  public  arehivqiSy 
a  single  instance  of  unworthy  eonoe^sionsy  or  of 
jpolitical  allianc«3and  combination,  throughout  the 
intercourse  of  the  United  States,  with  the  rovol- 
vtionary  rukrs  of  France.  Was  it  the  indu^Qeo  nf 
French  eounoils,  that  induced  the  Am^ri^an  go¥^ 
ernment  to  resist  tho  pretentions  of  France,  in 
1793,  and  to  encouatey  her  hostilities  in  179^  I 
that  led  to  the  ratification  of  the  British  treaty 
in  ±79 B  I  ta  the  British  negociation  in  460^,  and 
to  the  convention  of  the  British  minister  in  i$09 1 
that  dictated  the  impartial  overtures,  which  weBe 
wade  to  Great  Britain.,  as  well  as  to  Franeff 
during  the  whole  period  of  the  rostrietivo  system  ? 
tiiat  producedthe  determination  to  avoid  making 
any  treaty*  even  a  treaty  of  commeroe,  with 
France,  until  the  outrage  of  the  Itambouiilet  de- 
cree was  repaired  1^  that  sanctioned  the  repeated 
and  urgent  efibrts  of  the  American  govern ni«nt» 
to  put  an  end  to  the  war,  almost  as  soon  as  it  was 
declared?  or  that,  ^aaliy^  prompted  the  explicit 
•ommunicntion,  which,  in  pursuance  of  instrue-; 
tions,  was  made  by  the  American  minister,  at  6t. 
Potersburgb,  to  the  court  of  Russia,  stating, 
<<  that  the  principal  subjects  of  discussion,  whieti 
bad  long  been  subsisting  between    the  United 

*Sec  the  instructimw  from  the  secretary  of  itato  to 
the  American  mkiiater  at  Paris,  dated  th^  S9th  May, 
1813. 


!••■■ 


s'f ,': 


ro 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


States  aud  Ft  ance,  remained  unsettled  ;  thai 
there  >vas  no  immediaie  pronpeet,  that  there 
vouid  be  a  satisfaetot^v  settlement  of  them  ;  but 
that>  whatever  the  event,  intbatrespeet^might  be, 
It  was  nut  ihe  intention  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States  to  enter  into  any  more  intimate  cob- 
liexioDS  with  France  ;  tliat  the  government  of  the 
United  .Slates  did  not  anticipate  any  event  what- 
ever, that  could  produce  tliat  eiVct^  and  that  the 
American  minister  was  the  more  happy  to  find 
himself  authorized  by  his  government  to  avow 
this  Intention^  as  different  representations  of- their 
Views  iiad  been  widely  circulated,  as  well  in  Eu- 
rope, as  in  America.*'*  But,  while  eyery  act  of 
the  American  government  thus  falsifies  the  charge 
of  a  subserviency  to  the  policy  of  France,  it  may 
he  justly  remarked,  that  of  all  the  governments, 
mamtaining  a  necessary  relation  and  intercourse 
with  that  nation,  from  the  commencement  to  the 
recent  termination  of  the  revolutionary  establish- 
ments,  it  has  happened  that  the  government  of 
the  United  States  Itas  least  exhibited  marks  of 
condescension  and  conccssit^n  to  the  successive  ru- 
lers.  It  is  for  Great  Britain,  more  particularly 
as  an  accuser^  to  examine  and  explain  the  eonsis(- 
ency  of  the  reproaches,  which  she  has  u(te*'ed  »- 
gainst  the  United  States,  with  the  course  of  her 
own  conduct ;  with  her  repeated  negociations, 
during  the  republican,  as  well  as  during  the  impe- 
rial sway  of  France ;  with  her  solicitude  to  make 
and  propose  treaties ;  with  her  interchange  of 
eooimercial  benefits,  so  irreconcilable  to  a  state  of 
war;  with  the  almost  triumphant  entry  of  a 
French  ambassador  into  her  capital,  amidst  the 
acclamations  of  the  populace  5  and  with  the  proa- 

*Sec  Mr.  Monroe's  letter  to  Mr,  Adams,  dated  the 
1st  of  July,  1812  ;  and  Mr.  Adams'  letter  to  Mr,  Mob- 
roe,  dated  the  1 1th  of  December,  1812. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


ri 


[faat 
I  ere 

be, 
the 

the 

hat- 

the 


u- 
of 


«€«U^ii9  insiitated  by  the  orders  of  the  king  of 
Great  Britain  hiuiseltV  in  the  highest  eourl  of 
ei'iminal  jurisdiction  in  his  kingdom^  to  punish  the 
printei*  of  a  gazette,  for  publishing  a  libel  on  the 
eonduct  and  cbaraeter  of  the  late  ruler  of  France  ! 
"Whatever  may  be  th^  source  of  these  symptoms, 
howcTcr  they  may  indicate  a  subservient  policy, 
such  symptoms  have  never  occurred  in  the  Unit- 
ed States,  throughout  the  imperial  government  of 
France, 

The  conduct  of.  the  United  States,  from  the 
moment  of  tleelaring  the  war,  will  serve,  as  well 
as  theiv  previous  conduct,  to  rescue  them  from 
the  unjust  reproaches  of  Great  Britain.  "When 
war  was  declared,  the  orders  in  eouncil  had  been 
maintained,  with  inexorable  hostility,  until  a  thou- 
sand American  vessels,  with  their  cargoes,  had 
been  seized  and  confiscated,  under  their  operation ; 
the  British  minister  at  Washington  had,  with  pe- 
culiar solemnity,  announced  that  the  orders  would 
not  be  repealed,  but  upon  conditions,  whieh  the 
American  government  bad  not  the  right,  nor  tly) 
power,  to  fulfil ;  and  the  European  war,  which 
bad  raged,  with  little  intermission  for  twenty 
years,  threatened  an  indefinite  continuance.  Un- 
der these  circumstances,  a  repeal  of  the  orders, 
and  a  cessation  of  the  injuries,  which  they  pro- 
duced, were  events  beyond  all  rational  anticipa- 
tion, it  appears,  htwever,  that  the  orders,  un- 
der the  influence  of  a  parliamentary  enquiry  into 
their  effects  upon  the  trade  and  manufactures  of 
Great  Britain,  were  provisionally  repealed  on  the 
23d  of  June,  1812,  a  few  days  subse<|ucnt  to  tho 
Americaa  declaration  of  war.  If  this  repeal  had 
been  made  known  to  the  United  States,  before 
their  resort  to  arms,  the  repeal  would  have  arrest- 
ed it ;  and  that  cause  of  war  being  removed,  the 
other  essential  cause,  the  practice  of  impress- 
ment, would  have  been  the  subject  of  renewed  ne« 


f*., 

il 


w4 


'     i 


i^ 


AMftiilCAN  EXl>0&t. 


Sbetati^fly  vmd^^  tbe  Auspicious  hiAurnceof  a  p^t- 
al,  yet  iinJiKirrtakit  a«t  of  reedtioiJiation.  But  tde 
^riai*ati^a  tor  ^ar^  having  aatioUAcetl  the  prae^ 
t\tt  of  impte^stnerft^  a^  a  pfrincipiil  cause,  peaec 
ewM  tsa\^  be  the  result  of  an  express  abandon- 
meat  of  the  )>raMiee  ^  t>f  a  sruspen^ion  of  the 
piaetiee  fat  the  purposes  of  negotiation ;  otof  a 
cessation  of  aetata!  stiffei-anee,  in  eonsequetree  of 
a  paciiRration  in  Europe,  \vhiek  ^ou'id  deprive 
Great  Britain  oi  ever^  motive  for  ciontinuing  the 
]pra'ctiee. 

Henec,  \Vkett^ar1y  intimations  were  given,  from 
Halifajs  and  froto  Canada,  of  a  disposition,  on  the 
part  of  the  local  authoritres,  to  enter  into  an  ar- 
mistice, (ho  power  of  those  authorities  was  s6 
doabli\il,  the  objects  of  the  armistice  were  so  Hm- 
ited,  aiid  the  immediate  advaDta^es  were  so  en- 
tirely )9ii  the  side  of  the  enemy,  that  the  Anaeri* 
can  govi^minent  could  not,  consistently  with  it« 
duty,  embrace  tfce  propoMtioms.^  But  some  hope 
of  an  amicable  adjusttnent  was  inspired,  When  a 
cbmnumicatiim  was  received  from  admiral  lYar- 
ren,  in  September,  1812,  stating  that  h«  was  com- 
manded by  his  .government,  to  propose  on  the  one 
hand  *<  that  the  goVernmeiit  ( f  the  United  States 
should  instantly,  recall  their  letters  of  marguo 
and  reprisal  against  British  ships,  togeilier  with 
all  orders  and  instructions  for  any  acts. of  hostili- 
ty whatevei%  against  the  tcri  norrc^  df  his  maj- 
esty, or  the  persons  atid  pr<^erty  of  his  subjects  f* 
and  to  promise,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  Amer- 
ican government  acquiesced  in  the  preceding  prop- 

*See  letters  from  llie  depaVtiwent  cf  ^tiito  to  Mr. 
Russell,  dated  the  ^th  and  lOth  of  Atigmt,  1812,  and 
Ml*.  'Graham*a  meiimrandum  of  a  convei'sation  whh 
Mr.  Baker,  the  British  secretary  of  legation  enclosed 
in  the  last  letter.  See  also,  Mr.  Monroe's  icttw^  to^r. 
R«9seU,  dated  tlic  2 1  st  of  Augry^t,  M  «4 2. 


AM^m^vAN  EXPOSE. 


73 


HP' 

tde 
ae^ 

ec 
dti- 
the 
fa 

of 
ive 
be 


ositioiiy  that  instructions  should  l»e  issned  to  the 
British  squadrons,  to  dis«on(iiuie  hu&iilities  a- 
gainst  the  United  States  and  their  citizens.  This 
overture,  hoAVpver,  was  subject  to  a  further  qaal- 
ideation,  **  that  should  the  AnierieaB  government 
aoeede  to  the  proposal  for  terminating  hostilities, 
the  British  admiral  was  aathorised  to  arraoge 
tvith  the  American  government,  as  to  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  laws,  which  interdict  the  commerce 
and  ships  of  war  of  Great  Britain  from  the  hai'« 
hors  and  waters  of  the  United  States  ;  hut  that 
In  default  of  such  revocatioa,  within  the  reason- 
able period  to  be  agreed  upon,  the  orders  in  eonu- 
eil  would  be  revived/'*  The  American  govern- 
ment, at  once,  expressed  a  disposition  to  embrace 
the  general  proposition  for  a  oessation  of  hostil- 
ities, with  a  viev/  to  negeoiation ;  declared  that 
no  peace  eould  be  durable,  unless  the  essential  ob- 
ject of  impressment  was  adjusted  ;  and  offered  as 
the  basis  of  the  adjust  men  t,-to  prohibit  the  em- 
ployment ef  British  subjects  in  the  naval  or  com- 
mercial serviee  of  the^ United  States  |  but  adher- 
ing to  its  determination  of  obtainfing  a  relief  from 
actual  snfierance,  the  suspension  of  the  practice 
of  impressment,  pending  the  proposed  armistice, 
was  deemed  a  neeessary  eonsequence  ;  for  <'  it 
eould  not  be  presumed,  while  the  parties  were  en- 
gaged in  a  negociatiou  to  adjust  amicably  this 
important  dififerenoe^  that  the  United  States  would 
admit  the  right,  or  acquiesce  fm  the  practice,  of 
the  opposite  party  ;  or  that  Great  Britain  would 
be  willing  to  restrain  her  cruizers  from  a  prae- 
tiee,  which  would  have  the  strongest  effect  to  de- 
feat the  negociation.^t     So  just,   so  reasonable, 

*Sce  the  letter  of  admiral  Warren  to  the  secretary 
of  state,  dated  at  Halifax,  the  20th  of  September,  1812. 

fSee  the  letter  of  Mr.  Monroe  lo  admiral  Warrefi, 
dated  the  arth  af  October,  1812. 

G 


hi  A 

m 
m 


u 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


M  itiilispcDsabley  a  preliminaryy  without  which  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States^  n^vigatiag  the  high 
seasiy  fvould  not  be  plaeed,  by  the  armistice,  on  an 
equal  footing  \f  ith  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain, 
admiral  Warren  \i'as  not  authorised  to  a«cept ; 
land  the  effort  at  an  amicable  adjustment,  through 
that  channel,  was  necessarily  abortive. 

But  long  after  the  overture  of  the  British  ad- 
miral was  made  (a  few  days,  indeed,  after  the 
declaration  of  war)  the  reluctance  with  which 
the  United  States  had  resorted  to  arms,  was  man- 
ifested by  the  steps  taken  to  arrest  the  progress 
of  hostilities,  and  to  hasten  a  restoration  of  peace. 
On  the  26th  of  June,  1812,  the  American  charge 
d'affaires,  at  London,  was  instructed  to  make  the 
proposal  of  an  armistice  to  the  British  govern- 
ment, which  might  lead  to  an  af^justment  of  all 
differences,  on  the  single  condition,  in  the  event  of 
the  orders  in  council  being  repealed,  that  instruc- 
tions should  be  issued,  suspending  the  practice  of 
impressment  during  the  armistice.  This  proposal 
was  soon  followed  by  another,  admitting,  instead 
of  positive  instructions,  an  informal  understand-* 
ing  between  the  two  governments  on  the  subject.'it' 
Both  of  these  proposals  were  unhappily  rejected.! 
And  when  a  third,  which  seemed  to  have  no  plea 
for  hesitation,  as  it  required  no  other  prelimina- 
ry, than  that  the  American  minister  at  London 
should  find  in  the  British  government,  a  sincere 
dispo^tion  to  accommodate  the  difference,  relative 
to  impressment,  x>n  fair  conditions,  was  evaded, 
it  was  obvious,  that  neither  a  desire  of  peace,  nor 

*See  the  letters  from  the  secretary  of  state  to  Mr. 
Hussell,  dated  the  36th  of  June,  and  tlie  27th  of  Jufy, 
1812. 

tSee  the  correspondehee  between  Mr.  Russell  and 
lord  Castlereagh,  dated  August  and  September,  1813 
—and  Mr.  Russell's  letters  t©  the  secretary  of  statej^ 
dated  September,  UI2. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


76 


the 
an 


n  spirit  of  conoilialion,  influenced  the  councils  of 
Great  Bi  itain, 

"^  Under  these  circumstances  tlie  Amerienn  gov- 
ernment had  no  choice,  but  to  invigorate  the  war  ; 
and  yet  it  has  never  lost  sight  of  the  object  of  all 
just  wars,  a  just  peace.  The  emperor  af  Russia 
having  offered  his  mediation  (o  accom|)li8h  that 
objecl,  it  was  instantly  ajid  cordially  accepted  by 
the  American  government  ;'*^  but  it  was  peremp- 
torily rejected  by  t1ie  British  govt^rnment.  Tha 
emperor,  in  his  benevolence,  repeated  his  invita- 
tion $  the  British  government  again  rejected  it. 
At  Jast,  however.  Great  Britain,  sensible  of  the 
reproach,  to  which  such  conduct  would  expose  her 
throughout  Europe,  offered  to  the  American  gov- 
ernment a  direct  negociation  for  peace,  and  the 
offer  was  promptly  embraced  ;  with  perfect  con-vj 
i!dence,  that  the  British  government  would  be 
equally  prompt  in  giving  effect  toit^  own  f^opo^ 
sal.  But  such  was  not  the  design  or  the  course  of 
that  government.  The  American  envoys  were 
immediately  appointed,  and  arrived  at  Gotten - 
burgh,  the  destined  scene  of  negociation,  on  the 
11th  of  April,  1814,  as  sOon  as  the  season  admit- 
ted. The  British  government,  thougb  regularly 
informed,  thatne  time  Would  be  losit,  en  the  part 
of  tbeUiyted  States,  suspended  the  appointment 
of  its  envoys,  until  the  actual  arrivalof  the  A- 
merican  envoys  should  be  formally  coramunieated. 
This  pretension,  however  novel  and  inauspicious, 
was  not  permitted  to  obstruct  the  path  to  peace. 
The  British  government  next  proposed  to  transfer 
the  negociation  from*'  Gottenburgh  to  Ghent. 
This  change,  also,  notwithstanding  the  necessary 
delay,  was  allowed.  The  American  envoys  arriv- 
ing at  Ghent  on  the  24th  of  June,  remained  in  a 
mortifying  state  of  suspense  and  expectation  for 

*See  the  correspoueleiice  between  Mr,  Monroe  and  Mr. 
PASchkoff,  in  Mifch,  1813. 


^ii 


;  ■.'.'' ; 


m 


Wi 


•  ij 


ft 


7% 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


the  arrival  of  the  British  enYojs  until  the  6th  of 
Augnst.  And  from  the  period  of  opening  the  ne« 
goeiations,  to  the  date  of  the  last  despatch  of  the 
Slst  of  Oetober^  it  has  been  seen  that  the  -whole 
of  the  diplomatie  skill  of  the  British  goyernment 
has  consisted  in  eonsnming  time>  M'ithout  ap- 
proaching anj  conclusion.  The  pacification  of 
Paris  had  suddenly'  and  unexpectedly  placed  at  tha 
disposal  of  the  British  government  a  great  naval 
and  military  force  ;  the  pride  and  passions  of  the 
nution  Avere  artfully  excited  against  the  United 
S^tates  *j  and  a  war  of  desperate  and  barbarous 
character  was  planned^  at  the  very  moment  that 
the  American  government^  finding  its  maritime 
citizens  relieved  by  the  course  of  events,  from 
actual  sufferance,  under  the  practice  of  impress- 
inent,  had  authorised  its  envoys  to  wave  those 
6fipu1ations  upon  the  subject,  which  might  other- 
wise t  ive  been  indispensable  precautions. 

Hitherto  the  American  government  has  ewn 
the  justice  of  its  cause  ;  its  respect  for  the  rights 
of  othci*  nations  ;  and  its  inherent  love  of  peace* 
But  the  scenes  ot*  war  will  also  exhibit  a  striking 
contrast,  bp(ween  the  conduct  of  the  United 
Stafes  and  the  conduct  of  Great  Britain.  The 
same  insidious  policy  which  taught  the  Prince 
Regent  to  deseribe  the  American  government  as 
the  aggressor  in  the  war,  has  induced  the  British 
government  (clouding  the  daylight  truth  of  the 
transaction)  to  call  the  atrocities  of  the  Britii^h 
fleet  and  armies,  a  retaliation  upon  the  example  of 
the  American  troops  in  Canada.  The  United 
States  tender  a  solemn  appeal  to  the  civilized 
W^orld  against  the  fabrication  of  such  a  charge  ; 
and  they  vouch*  in  support  of  their  appeal,  the 
known  morals,  habits  and  pursuits  of  their  peo- 
ple ;  the  character  of  their  civil  and  political  in- 
stit<ution8 ;  and  the  whole  career  of  iheir  uavj 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


77 


and  their  army^  as  humane  as  it  is  hrave.  Upon 
what  pretext  did  the  British  adutira!,  on  the  18th 
of  August,  1814,  announce  his  determination^ 
«<  to  destroy  and  lay  waste  such  towns  and  dis- 
tricts upon  the  coast  as  inigiit  be  found  assaila- 
ble ?'*^  It  was  the  pretext  of  a  rcqwest  from  the 
governor-general  ef  tl^^  Canadas,  for  aid  to  earry 
into  elFiict  measures  of  retaliation  ;  while,  in  fact, 
the  barbarous  nature  of  the  war  had  been  delib- 
erately settled  and  prescribed  by  the  British  cab- 
inet. What  could  huve  been  the  foundation  of 
such  a  request  ?  The  outrages  and  the  irregular- 
ities, which  too  often  occur  during  a  state  of  na- 
tional hostilities,  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  civ- 
ilized warfare,  are  always  to  be^laniented,  disa- 
vowed, and  repaired  by  a  just  and  honoralile  gov- 
ernment ;  but  if  disavowal  be  made,  and  if  rep- 
aration be  ©fiered,  there  is  no  foundation  for  re- 
taliatory violence.  "  Whatever  unatkorised  ir- 
ji  regularity  may  have  been  tommitted  by  any  of 
'the  troops  of  the  tJnited  States,  the  American 
government  has  been  ready,  upon  principles  of 
sacred  and  eternal  obligation,  to  disavow,  and  as 
far  as  it  might  be  practicable  to  repair/'f  In  ev 
ery  known  instance  (and  they  are  few)  the  offend- 
ers have  been  subjected  to  the  regular  investiga- 
tion of  a  military  tribunal  ;  and  an  cilicer,  com- 
manding a  party  of  stragglers,  who  were  guilfy 
of  unworthy  excesses,  was  immediately  dismis- 
sed, without  the  form  of  ^  trial,  for  not  prevent- 
ing those  excesses.  The  ilestruction  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Newark,  adjacent  to  Fort  George,  on  the 
10th  of  December,  1813,  was  long  swb?ecjuent  to 
the  pillage  and  conilagrat ion  committed   on   the 

■•^See  admiral  Cochrane's  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe,  dated ^ 
the  Ifth  of  August,  1814;  and  Mr.  Monroe's  answer  ci' 
the  6th  September,  1814. 

fSee  the  lettcrfrofti  the  secretary  at  war  to  brigadier. 
general  M*Lure,  dated  the  4thof  October,  1813. 

g2 


J 


•  ''"I 


m 


H~  >l 


7J 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


B^iores  of  the  Chesapeake,  throughout  the  sum* 
iner  of  the  saoic  year ;  and  might  fairly  have 
been  alleged  as  a  retaliatieii  for  those  outrages; 
but,  in  fact,  ic  i^as  justified  by  the  American 
commander,  who  ordered  it,  on  the  ground,  that 
it  beeame  necessary  to  the  militarj  operations  at 
that  place  ;^  while  the  American  government,  as 
80011  as  it  heard  of  the  act,  on  the  6th  of  January, 
1811,  instructed  the  general  commanding  the 
northern  army,  <<  to  disavow  the  conduct  of  the 
officer  who  committed  It,  and  to  transmit  to  gov- 
ernor Prevost,  a  copy  of  the  order,  under  color 
of  which  that  officer  had  acted/'f  This  disa- 
vowal was  accordingly  communicated  ;  and  on 
the  10th  of  February,  181  i,  governor  Prevost 
answered,  '^  that  it  had  been  with  great  satisfac- 
tion, he  had  received  the  assurance,  that  the  per- 
petration of  the  burning;  of  the  town  of  iNewark^ 
was  both  unauthorised  by  the  American  govern- 
ment, and  abhoirent  to  every  American  feeling  ; 
that  if  any  outrages  had  ensued  the  wanton  and 
unjustifiable  destruction  of  Newark,  passing  the 
bounds  of  just  retaliation,  they  were  to  be  at- 
tributed to  the  influence  of  irritatrd  passions,  on 
the  part  of  the  unfortunate  sufierers  by  that 
event,  which,  in  a  state  of  active  warfare^  it  has 
not  been  possible  altogether  to  restrain  ;  and  that 
it  was  as  little  congenial  to  the  disposition  of  his 
i»ajesty*s  government,  us  il  was  to  that  of  the  goy- 
ernnient  of  the  United  ^tates,  deliberately  to  a- 
dopt  any  policy,  Avhich  had  for  its  object  the  de- 
Tastation  of  private  property.*':^    But  the  disa* 

♦General  M*Lure*s  letters  to  the  secretary  at  war,  da* 
ted  Deceirber  10  and  13, 18l5. 

f  See  the  letter  from  the  secretary  at  war  to  major- 
gereral  Wilkinson,  dated  the  26th  of  January,  1814. 

%See  the  ktter  of  major  general  Wilkinson  to  sir 
Gearge  Pi evost,  dated  the  28th  of  January,  18l4;  and 
the  answer  of  sir  Geo.  Prevost  on  the  10th  Feb.  1814. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


79 


vowal  of  the  American  government  was  not  tho 
only  expiation'  of  (he  offenoe  committed  hy  its  cvf- 
flcer  ;  for  1  be  British  government  assumed  the 
province  of  redress  in  the  indulgence  of  its  own 
vougeancc.  A  fow  days  after  the  burning  of 
]Ne\Yark,  the  British  and  Indian  troops  crossed  the 
^Niagara  for  this  purpose;  they  surprised  and 
seized  Fort  Niagara,  and  put  its  garrison  to  the 
sword ;  they  burnt  the  villages  of  Lewiston^ 
Manchester,  Tuscarora, Baffalo  andBlaclr  Book  f 
slitughtering  and  abusing  the  unarmed  inhabi- 
tants ;  until,  in  short,  they  had  laid  waste  the 
whole  of  the  Niagara  frontier,  levelling  every 
house  and  every  hut,  and  dispersing,  beyond  the 
means  of  shelter,  in  the  extremity  of  winter,  the 
male  and  the  female,  the  old  and  the  young.  Sir 
George  Prevost  himself  appeals  to  have  been 
sated  with  the  ruin  and  the  havoc  which  had  been 
thus  inflicted.  In  his  proclamation  of  the  12th 
of  January,  1814,  he  emphatically  declared,  that 
for  the  burning  of  Newark,  "  the  opportunity  of 
punishment  had  oocured,  and  a  full  measure  of 
retaliation  had  taken  place;"  and  <Mhat  it,  was 
not  his  intention  to  pursue  further  a  sy^stem  of 
warfare,  so  revolting  to  his  own  feelings,  and  so 
little  congenial  to  the  British  character,  unless 
the  future  measures  of  the  enemy  sheuld  compel 
him  again  to  resort  to  it."*  Nay,  with  this  an- 
Kwer  to  the  American  general,  already  mentioned^ 
he  transmitted  "  a  copy  of  that  proclamaiicm,  as 
expressive  of  the  determination,  as  to  his  future 
line  of  conduct ;  and  added,  ^*  that  he  was  happy 
to  learn,  that  there  was  no  probability,  that  any 
measures  on  the  pai^t  of  the  American  govern- 
ment would  oblige   him  to  depart    from   it.^f 

♦See  sir  George  Prtvost's  proclamation,  dated  at  Que- 
bec, the  12th'  of  January   1814. 

f See  the  letter  of  sir  George  Prevost  to  general  Wil- 
kinson, dated  th«  10th  of  February.  1814 ;  and  the  Brit- 
ish gcntral  orders,  of  tke  23d  of  February,  1814. 


r 


t  -   *  L 


^m 


I 


80 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


Where,  then,  sliall  we  search  for  the  foundation 
of  the,  call  upon  the  British  ailmira)^  to  aid  the 
governor  of  Canada  in  measures  of  retaliation  } 
&reat  Britain  forgot  the  principle  of  retaliation^ 
when  her  orders  in  council  were  issued  against 
t  ;e  unoffending  neutral*  in  resentment  of  outrages 
committed  by  her  enemy ;  and  surely,  she  had 
agaiL)  forgotten  the  same  principle,  when  she 
threatened  an  unceasing  yiolation  of  tiae  laws  of 
civilized  warfare,  in  retaliation  for  injuries  which 
never  existed,  or  which  the  American  gave  rai- 
ment explicitly  disavowed,  or  which  had  been  al- 
ready avenged  by  her  own  arms,  in  a  manner  and 
a  degree  cruel  and  unparalleled.  The  American 
goVv^rnment,  after  all,  has  not  hesitated  to  declare, 
that  "  for  the  reparation  of  injuries,  of  whatevor 
natire  they  may  be,  nut  sanctioned  by  the  law  of 
nations,  which  the  military  or  naval  for^e  of  ei- 
ther power  might  have  committed  against  the 
other,  it  would  always  be  ready  to  emer  into  re- 
ciprocal arrangements  ;  presuming  that  the  Brit- 
ish government  would  neither  expect  nor  f^ropose 
any  which  were  not  reriprocal/*=*^ 

It  is  now,  however,  proper  to  examine  the  char- 
acter «f  the  warfare,  which  Great  Britain  has 
waged  against  the  United  States.  In  Europe,  it 
has  already  been  marked,  with  astonishment  and 
indignation,  as  a  warfare  of  the  tomahawk,  the 
sca!i>ing  knife  and  the  torch  ;  as  a  warfare,iHcom- 
patible  with  the  usages  of  civilized  nations  ;  as  a 
warf^re.that^disclaitn ing all  moral  in/luenee,inilicts 
an  outrage  upon  social  cr<ler,and  gives  a  shock  to  1  he 
elements  of  humanity.  All  belligercint  nations  eau 
form  ftj'Ianci  s  with  the  sivage,  the  Afr'.ean,  and 
the  blood-hound  *  imi  .what  civilized  nation  has 
selected  these  auxiliaries  in  its  hostilities  ?  It 
do^s  not  require  the  fleets'^  ^nd  armies  of  Tiroat 
Britain  t«  lay  Mai^le  an  open   country  ;    to  burn 

*Sec  Mr.  Monroe's  1^  tt^r  to  admiral  Cochrane,  datci 
the  6ta  of  Septcmbei^  Ifil^; 


i: 


<        L. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


61 


n, 

St 

cs 


unfortified  towns,  or  unprotected  viflages  |  nor  to 
plunder  the  merchant,  <he  farmer,  and  the  planter 
of  his  stores— th'ise  exploits  may  easily  He  a- 
chieved  by  a  single  cruiser,  •r  a  petty  privateer  $ 
but  when  have  such  exploits  been  performed  on 
the  coasts  of  the  continent  of  £urope,  or  of  the 
British  islands,  by  the  naval  and  military  force  of 
any  belligerent  power  ;  or  when  have  they  been 
tolerated  by  any  honorable  goverjiment,  as  th# 
predatory  enterprise  of  armed  indivichials  ?  Nor^ 
is  the  destruction  of  the  public  edifices,  which  a- 
dorn  the  metropolis  of  a  country,  and  serve  to 
commemorate  the  taste  and  science  of  the  age, 
beyond  the  sphere  of  action  of  the  vihist  inm^n- 
diary,  as  well  as  of  the  most  triumphant  onquer- 
or.  It  cannot  be  forgotten,  indeed,  thai  in  the 
course  of  ten  years  past,  the  capitals  of  the  prin- 
cipal pov^ersof  Europe  have  been  conquered,  and 
occupied  iilti  rnatcly,  by  th«  victorious  armies  of 
each  other  ^''^  and  yeX  there  lias  been  no  inslance 
of  a  conflagration  of  the  palaces,  the  temples  or 
the  halls  of  jfistice.  Ts^o  :  such  examples  have 
proceeded  from  Great  Britain  alone:  a  nation  so 
elevated  in  its  pride;  so  awful  in  its  powers  and 
so  affected  i)4  its  tenderness  fop  the  liberties  of 
Ttiankind  !  The  charge  iii  severe  ;  but  let  the  facts 
be  adduced. 

1.  Great  Britain  has  violated  the  principles  of 
sociallaw,  by  insidious  attempts  to  excite  the  eit- 
iztsnsof  the  United  Stacpsinto  acts  of  contuma. 
cy,  treason,  and  revolt  against ^thcir  governnic^nt* 
For  instance  : 

No  sooner  had  the  American  government  im- 
posed the  restrictive  system  upon  its  citizens,  to 
escape  from  the  rage  an«i  the  dej»redation  of  the 
belligerent  powers,  than  the  British  government, 
then  professing  amity  towards  the  United  Slates, 

f  Sae  Mr.  Mon^^ce's  letter  to  admiral  Cechrafte,  dated 
the  ^ik  of  Sept.  Ui^, 


4 


»a 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


issued  an  order,  \yhich  was,  in  effect,  an  invitation 
to  the  American  citizens  lO  breaii  the  laws  of 
their  coantrj,  under  a  public  promise  of  Brhish 
protection  and  patronage,  <Mo  all  vossels  M^hieh 
should  engage  in  an  illicit  trade,  without  hearing 
the  eustouiary  ship's  documents  and  papers/'"^ 

Again  :  During  a  pttiiod  of  peace,  between  the 
United  States  and  Great-Brilaia,  in  the  year 
4809,  the  governor  general  of  the  Canadas  cui- 
pJoyed  an  agent  fwho  had  previously  h«en  engag- 
ed in  a  similar  service,  with  the  knowledge  and 
approbation  of  the  British  cabinet)  <<  on  a  secret 
and  confidential  mission,'^  into  the  United  StateSi 
declaring,  <<  that  there  av as  no  doubt,  that  his  a-^ 
ble  execution,  of  such  a  mission,  would  give  him 
a  claim,  not  only  on  the  governor  general,  but  on 
his  majesty's  ministers/- — The  object  of  the  mis- 
sion was  to  ascertain,  whether  there  existed  a  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  the  citizens,  <^  to  bring  a- 
bout  a  separation  of  the  eastern  states  from  the 
general  union  ;  and  how  far,  in  such  an  event, 
they  would  look  up  to  England  fir  assistance,  or ' 
be  disposed  to  enter  into  a  connection  with  h@i'." 
The  agent  was  instructed  <*  to  insinuate,  that  if 
any  of  the  citizens  should  wish  to  enter  into  a 
communication  with  the  Briti'^h  government, 
through  the  governor  general^  he  was  authorised 
to  receive  such  communication ;  and  that  he 
would  safely  transmit  it  to  the  governor  gene- 
ral/'f  H©  was  accredited  by  a  formal  instrumeutf 
under  the  seal  and  signature  of  the  governor  gen- 
eral, to  be  produted,  <*  if  he  saw  good  ground 
fur  expecting  that  the  doing  so  might  lead  to 
a  more    confidential    communication,    than  ha 

*Sfce  the  instructions  to  the  commanders  oC  British  ships 
of  war  and  privateei;?*,  dated  the  Uth  of  ApriU  1808. 

|See  the  Istter  of  Mr.  Ryland,  the  secretary  of  the 
governor  general,  to  Mr.  Henry,  dated  the  Sotk  of  Jaa- 
mary,  l809. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


$9 


could  otherinrise  look  for  ;''  and  he  w^b  furnish* 
ed  with  <<  a  cypher  for  earrj^ing  on  the  secret 
correspondence."^  The  virtue  and  patriotism 
of  the  citiaiens  of  the  United  States  were  superi- 
or to  the  arts  and  corruption^  employed  in  this  se« 
cret  and  confidential  mission,  if  it  ever  was  dis- 
elosed  to  any  of  them  ;  and  the  mission  itself  ter- 
minated^ as  soon  as  the  arrangement  with  Mr. 
Erskine  was  announced,  j  But,  in  the  act  of  re- 
calling the  secret  emissary,  he  was  informed, 
<^  that  the  whole  of  his  letters  were  transcribing 
to  be  sent  home,  where  they  could  not  fail  of 
doing  him  great  credit,  and  it  was  hoped  they 
might  eyentually  contribut«  to  his  permanent  ad- 
vantage.'':)i  To  endeavor  to  realize  that  hope^  the 
emissary  proceeded  to  London  I  ail  the  circum- 
stances of  his  mission  were  made  known  io  the 
British  minister  ;  his  services  were  approved  and 
acknowledged  ;  and  he  was  sent  to  Canada,  for  a 
reward  ;  with  a  recommendatory  letter  from  lord 
Liverpool  to  sir  George  Prevost,  *^  stating  his 
lordship's  opinion  of  the  ability  and  judgment 
which  Mr.  Henry  had  manifested  on  the  occa- 
sions mentioned  in  his  memorial,  (liis  secret  and 
confidential  missions,)  and  of  the  benefit  the  pub- 
lic service  nust  derive  from  his  active  employ- 
ment, in  any  public  situation,  in  which  sir  George 
Prevost  might  think  proper  to  place  him.$  The 
world  will  judge  upon  these  facts,  and  the  rejec- 
tion of  a  imrliamentary  call,  for  the  production 
of  the  papers  relating  to  them,  what  credit  is 
due  to  the  prince  regent's  assertion,  <<  that  Mr. 

♦See  the  letter  of  wr  James  Craig,  to  Mr.  Henry,  dat- 
ed Feb.  6, 1809. 

f  See  the  same  letter,  and  Mr.  Rylaid's  letter  of  the 
26th  of  January,  1809. 
-    %Set  Mr.Ryland's  letter,  dated  the  26th  of  June,  1809, 

5See  the  letter  from  lord  Liverpool  to  sir  George  |*ro» 
vost,  dated  the  ICihof  S»pt.  1811.  - 


14 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


Henri's  mission  was  undertaken:,  without  ih%  au- 
Ibttritjor  efen  knowli'dgo  of  his  niajf^st;)^'s  gov- 
ernment." The  iirst  mission  was  certainly 
known  to  the  British  governn^^nt,  at  the  time 
it  occurred  ;  for  the  secretary  of  the  governor 
general  expressly  states,  that  the  information  and 
political  ohservationsy  heretofore  received  from 
Mr.  Meary,  were  transmitted  by  his  ^xeelleney 
to  the  secretary  of  state,  who  had  expressed  kis 
particular  approbation  of  them  f*^  the  second 
mission  was  approved  when  it  was  known  ;  and 
it  remains  for  the  British  government  tooxplain^ 
upon  any  established  principles  of  morality  and 
justice,  the  essential  difference  between  ordering 
the  offensive  acts  to  be  done ;  and  reaping  tlie 
fruit  of  those  acts^  without  either  expressly,  or 
tacitly,  condemning  them. 

Again  :  These  hostile  attempts  upon  the  peace 
and  union  of  the  Uoitt^  Statos,  preceding  the 
ftettlaration  of  war,  have  been  followed  by  simi- 
lar machinations,  subsequent  to  that  event.  The 
governor  general  of  the  Canadas  has  endeavored, 
occasionally,  in  his  proclamations  and  general  or- 
ders,  to  dissuade  the  militia  of  the  Lnited  States^ 
from  the  performance  of  the  xiu ty  which  they 
owed  to  their  injured  country  ;  and  the  efforts, 
at  Quebec  and  Halifax,  to  kindle  the  flame  of  civ- 
il war,  have  l>een  as  incessant,  as  they  have  been 
insidious  and  abortive.  Nay,  the  governor  of  the 
island  of  Barbadoes,  totally  forgetful  of  the 
boasted  artigle  of  the  British  magna  charta,  in 
favor  of  forei;;n  merchants,  found  within  the 
British  dominions,  upon  the  breaking  out  of  hos- 
tilities, resolved  that  every  American  merchant« 
within  his  Jurisdiction  at  the  declaration  of  war, 
should  at  once,  be  treated  as  a  prisoner  of  war  ; 
because  every  citizen  of  the  United   State?  was 


*SecMr.  RyUnd's  letter  of  the  26th  jf  Jan.  1W9. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


85 


or 


enrolled  ID  the  militia;  because  the  miliiia  of 
the  United  States  were  required  to  serve  their 
country  beyond  the  limits  of  the  state^  to  whieU 
they  particularly  belonged  ;  and  because  the  mi- 
lilia  of  '*  ail  the  states,  whi(;h  bad  acceded  to  this 
measure,  were,  in  the  view  of  sir  George  Bcck- 
with,  acting  as  a  French  conscription.'** 

Again  :  Mor  was  this  course  of  conduct  con- 
fined to  the  colonial  authorities.  On  the  20  ih  of 
October,  1812,  the  British  government  issued  an 
order  in  council,  authorizing  the  governors  of  the 
British  West  India  islands,  to  grunt  licenses  to 
American  vessels,  for  the  importation  and  expor- 
tation of  certain  articles,  enumerated  in  the  or- 
der ;  but  in  the  instructions  which  accompanied 
the  order,  it  was  expressly  provided,  that  <<  what- 
ever importations  were  proposed  to  be  roade^ 
from  the  United  States  of  America,  should  be  by 
licenses,  confined  to  the  ports  of  the  eastern  states 
exclusively,  unless  there  was  reason  to  suppose, 
that  the  object  of  the  order  '^'ould  not  be  fiillilledy 
if  licenses  were  not  granted,for  importations  from 
the  other  ports  of  the  United  States/'f 

The  president  of  the  United  States  has  not  hes- 
itated to  place  before  the  nalion,  with  expressions 
of  a  just  indignation,  "  the  policy  of  Great  Brit- 
ain thus  proclaimed  to  the  world  ;  introducing  in- 
to her  moiSes  of  warfare,  a  system  equally  distin« 
guished  by  the  deformity  of  its  features,  and  the 
depravity  of  its  character  ;  and  having  for  its 
object,  to  dissolve  the  ties  of  allegiance,  and  tTio 
sentiments  of  ioyahy,in  the  adveri-ary  nation ;  and 

♦See  the  reinarkable  state  paper  i^suecl  by  gov.  Btck- 
with,  at  Barbadoes,  on  the  13th  of  N^v.  IGVJ. 

fSee  lb«  proclamation  of  the  gov.  of  Beriiiuda,  of  Jan 
14,  16  i4  ;  and  the  ind< ructions  trom  the  British  stcietary. 
for  foreign  affkirs,  dated  November  9,  181iJ. 

u 


k 


«6 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE 


to  seduce  and  separate  its  oompenrnt  parts^  tlie 
one  from  the  otlier.":|: 

2.  Great  Britain  lias  violated  the  la^s  of  hu- 
manity and  honor^  hj  seeking  alliances,  iii  the 
prosecution  ot*  the  ivar^  with  savages,  pirates  and 
sslaves. 

The  British  agency,  in  exciting  the  Indians*  at 
all  times,  to  commit  hostilities  upon  the  frontier 
of  the  United  States,  is  too  aotorious,  to  admit  of 
a  direct  and  general  denial.  It  has  sometimes^ 
however,  been  said,  that  such  conduct  was  unau- 
thorized by  the  British  goveritment ;  and  the 
prince  regent,  seizing  the  single  instance  of  an  in- 
tin^ation,  alleged  to  be  given,  on  the  part  of  sir 
James  Craig,  governor  of  the  Canadas,  that  an 
attack  was  meditated  by  the  Indians,  has  affirmed, 
that  '•  the  charge  of  exciting  the  Indians  to  of- 
fensive measures  against  the  United  States,  was 
void  of  foundation  ;  that  before  the  war  began,  a 
policy  the  most  opposite  had  been  uniformly  pur- 
sued ;  and  that  proof  of  this  was  tendered  by 
Mr.  Foster  to  the  American  government.!  But 
is  it  not  known  in  Europe,  as  well  as  in  America, 
that  the  British  Northwest  Company  maintain  a 
constant  intercourse  of  trade  and  council  with 
ilw  Indians ;  that  their  interests  are  often  in  di- 
rect collision  with  the  interests  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  United  States,  and  that  by  means  of  the 
inimical  dispositions,  and  the  active  agencies  of 
the  company,  (seen,  understood,  and  tacitly  sanc- 
tioned by  the  local  au^iorities  of  Canada)  all  the 

^See  the  message  from  the  president  to  congress,  dated 
the  24th  of  February,  1813. 

f  See  the  prince  regent's  declaration  of  the  10th  of 
January.  1813. 

See,  al"*o,  Mr.  Foster's  letters  to  Mr.  Monroe,  dated 
the  2«thDec.  1811,  and  the  7th  and  8th  June,  1812  ;  and 
Mr.  Monroe's  answer,  dated  the  9th  of  January,  1813, 
aud  the  10th  of  June,  1812  ;  and  the  documents  whick 
accompanied  the  correspondence. 


n 
o 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


87 


evils  of  an  Indian  t^ar  may  be  sbed  upon  tlio  U- 
nited  States,  without  the  authority  of  a  formal 
order,  emanating  immediately  from  the  British 
government  ?  Menoe,  the  American  government, 
in  an  answer  to  the  evasive  protestations  <of  the 
British  minister,  residing  at  Washington,  frankly 
eommunieated  the  evidence  of  British  agency, 
which  had  been  received  at  different  periods  since 
the  year  1807  ;  and  observed,  "  that  whatever 
may  have  been  the  disposition  of  the  British  gov. 
ernment,  the  conduct  of  its  subordinate  agents 
had  tended  to  excite  the  hostility  of  the  Indian 
tribes  towards  the  United  States  ;  and  that  in  es- 
timating the  comparative  evidence  on  the  subject, 
it  was  impossible  not  to  recollect  the  comniTini- 
eation  lately  made,  respecting  the  conduct  of  Sir 
James  Craig,  in  another  important  transaction 
(the  employment  of  Mr.  Henry,  as  an  accredit- 
ed agent,  to  alienate  and  detach  the  citizens  of  a 
particular  secti-on  of  the  Union,  from  their  gov- 
crnment)which^  ft  appeared,  was  approved  by  lord 
Liverpool."* 

The  proof,  however,  that  the  British  agents 
and  military  officers  were  guilty  of  the  charge 
thus  exhibited,  became  cAnclnsive,  when,  subse- 
quent to  the  communication  which  was  made  to 
the  British  minister,  the  defeat  and  flight  of  gijn- 
eral  Proctor's  army,  on  the        of  placed  in 

the  possession  of  the  American  commander,  the 
correspondence  and  papers  of  the  British  ofllcers. 
Selected  from  the  documents  which  were  obtained 
upon  that  occasion,  tbe  contents  of  a  few  letters 
will  serve  to  characterize  the  whole  of  the  mass. 
In  these  letters,  written  by  Mr.  M'Kee,  the  Brit- 
ish agent,  to  colonel  England,  the  commander  of 
the  British  troops,  superscribed,  "  on  bis  majes- 
ty's service,"  and  dated  during  the  months  of  Ju- 

*See  Mr.  Monroe's  letter  to  Mr.  Foster,  dated  the  10th 
Ok  June,  1812. 


?)  i 


8S 


AMERICAN  RXPOSE. 


ly  and  August,  1794,  tho  period  of  general 
'Wa^'ne's  successful  expedition  against  the  Indians, 
it  appears  that  the  scalps  taken  by  the  Indians 
vfeve  sent  to  <he  British  establishment  at  the  rap- 
ids of  the  Miami  ;*  th  it  tho  hostile  operations 
of  the  Indians  w#re  eoncerted  with  the  British 
agents  and  officers  ;f  that  when  certain  tribes  of 
ladians  *^  having  completed  the  belts  they  carried 
with  sealps  and  prisoners,  and  being  without  pro- 
visions, resolved  on  going  home,  it  was  lamented 
that  his  majesty's  posts  would  derive  no  security 
from  the  late  great  influx  of  Indians  into  that 
part  of  the  country,  should  they  persist  in  their 
resolution  of  returning  so  soon  ;'*'-^  that  <<  the 
British  agents  were  immediately  Ko  hold  a  coun- 
cil at  the  Glaze,  in  order  to  try  if  they  eould 
prevail  with  the  Lake  Indians  to  remain  ;  but 
that  without  provisions  and  ammunition  being 
sent  to  that  plaee,  it  wat  eonoeived  to  bo  extreme- 
ly difficult  to  keep  them  together  ;''§  and  that 
^*  colonel  England  was  making  great  exertions 
to  supply  the  Indians  with  provision8."||  But 
the  language  of  the  correspondence  becomes  at 
length  so  plain  and  direct,  that  it  seems  impos- 
sible to  avoid  the  conclusion  of  a  governmental 
agency,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britiiin,  in  advising^ 
aiding,  and  conducting  the  Indian  war,  while  she 
pi'ofessed  friendship  and  peace  towards  the  U» 
States.  <*  Scouts  are  sent,  (says  Mr.  M'Kee 
t#  colonel  England^  to  view  the  situation  of  the 
American  army  ;  ana  we  notv  mvster  one  thousand 
Indians.     All  the  Lake  Indians,  from   Sugaua 

*  Seethe  letter  from  Mr.  M'Kee  to  isolonel  Eng- 
land, dated  the  2d  of  July,  1794. 

t  See  the  letter  from  the  same  to  the  same,  dated 
the  5th  of  July,  1794. 

%  Sec  the  same  letter.         $  See  the  same  letter.. 

I)  See  the  same  letter.  ' 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


90 


downwards,  should  met  lose  one  moment  in  join- 
ing their  brethrenj  as  every  aceession  ot  strcn^h 
is  an  addition  to  tlieir  spirits.''''^  And  again  : 
*'  I  have  been  employed  several  days  in  endeavor* 
iog  to  fix  the  Indians^  who  have  been  driven  from 
their  villages  and  oornfields,  between  the  fort  and 
the  bay.  Swan  Creek  is  generally  agreed  upon» 
and  will  be  a  very  eonvenient  place  for  the  deliv- 
ery of  provisions^  &c.*'t  Whether,  under  the 
"various  proofs  of  the  British  a^eney,  in  exciting 
Indian  hostilities  against  the  Uuited  Stales.  In  a 
time  of  peace,  presented  in  the  course  of  thtt 
present  narrative,  the  prince  regent's  declaration, 
that,  ^*  before  the  war  began,  a  policy  the  most 
opposite  had  been  uniformly  pursued,"  by  the 
British  government,:):  is  to  be  ascribed  to  a  want 
of  intbrmation,  or  a  want  of  candor,  the  Ameri- 
can government  is  not  disposed,  more  particular- 
ly to  investigate. 

But,  independent  of  these  causes  of  just  com- 
plaint, arising  in  a  time  of  peace,  it  will  be  found, 
tliat  when  the  war  was  declared,  the  alliance  of 
the  British  government  with  the  Indians,  was 
avowed  upon  principles  the  most  novel,  produc- 
ing consequences  the  uiost  dreadful.  The  sav- 
ages were  brought  into  the  war,  upon  the  ordina- 
ry footing  of  allies,  without  regard  to  the  inhuman 
character  of  their  warfare;  which  neither  spares 
age  nor  sex ;  and  which  is  more  desperate  to- 
wards the  captive,  at  the  stake,  than  towards  the 
combatant  in  the  field.  It  seemed  to  be  a  stipu- 
lation of  the  compact,  between  the  allies,  that 

*  See  the  letter  from  Mr.  M'Kee  to  colonel  Eng- 
land, dated  the  13th  of  August,  1794. 

fSee  the  letter  from  the  same  to  the  same,  dated  the 
30th  of  August,  1794. 

:j:Seethe   prince  regent's  declaration  of  the  10th  of 
Jxmuary,  1813, 

h2 


I 


1 M  I 


id 


90 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


Ilie  British  migltt  imitate,  but  should  not  control 
the  ferocity  of  the  savagee.  While  the  Brilisli 
troops  hchold,  >vithout  compunction^  the  toma- 
hawk and  the  scalping  knife,  brandished  against 
prisoners*  old  men  and  children,  and  even  against 
pregnant  wom«n,  and  Mrhile  they  exuUingly  ac- 
cept the  bloody  scalps  of  the  slaughtered  Ameri- 
cans^'i^'the  Indian  exploits  in  battle,  are  recounted 
and  applauded  by  the  British  general  orders. 
Hank  and  station  are  assigned  to  them,  in  the 
military  (iiovements  of  the  British  army ;  and 
the  unhallowed  league  was  ratified,  with  appro- 
priate emblems,  by  intertwining  an  American 
scalp,  with  the  decorations  of  the  mace,  which 
the  commander  of  the  northern  army  of  the  U- 
nited  States  found  in  the  legislative  chamber  of 
York,  the  capital  of  Upper  Canada. 

In  the  single  scene,  that  succeeded  the  battle  of 
Frenchtown,  near  the  river  Raisin,  ijv;h^re  the  A- 
merican  troops  were  defeated  bjrttlcfwies,  under 
the  command  of  general  Proctor,  there  will  be 
found  concentrated,  upon  indisputable  proof,  an 
iilustralion  of  the  horrors  of  the  warfare,  which 
Great  Britain  has  pursued,  and  still  pursues,  in 
co-operation  with  the  savages  of  the  south,  as 
well  as  with  the  savages  of  the  north.  The  A- 
merican  army  capitulated  on  the  22d  January^ 
1813  ^  yet,  after  the  faith  of  the  Brilish  com- 
mander had  been  pledged,  in  the  terms  of  cjie  ca- 
pitulation ;  and  while  the  British  eflSeers  and  sol- 
diers silently  and  exultingly  contemplated  the 
seene,  some  of  tlie  American  prisoners  of  war 
were  tomahawked,  some  were  shot,  and  some 
were  burnt.  Many  of  the  unarmed  inhabitanta 
of  the  Michigan  territory  w^re  massacred ;  their 
property  was  plundered,  and  their  houses  were 

*See  the  letter  from  t^e  American  general  Hari'isoA  to 
the  BrttisK  general  Pwtor. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


91 


destroyed.^  The  dead  bodies  of  the  mangled  A- 
merieans  were  exposed,  unburied,  to  be  devoured 
by  dogs  and  swine  ;  <<  beeause>  as  (he  British  of- 
ficers deehiredy  the  Indians  would  not  permit  the 
interment  ^*'f  and  some  of  the  Americans,  who 
survived  the  carnage,  had  been  extricated  from 
danger,  only  by  being  purchased  at  a  price  as  a 
part  of  the  booty  belonging  to  the  Indians.  But, 
to  complete  this  dreadful  view  of  human  deprav- 
ity and  human  wretchedness,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  add,  that  an  American  physician,  who  was  dis- 
patched with  a  flag  of  truee,  to  ascertain  the  sit- 
uation of  his  wounded  brethren,  and  two  persons, 
his  companions,  were  intercepted  by  the  Indians, 
in  their  humane  missioB  ;  the  physician,  after  be- 
ing wounded,  and  one  of  his  companions,  were 
made  prisoners ;  and  the  third  person  of  the  par- 
ty was  killed4 

But  the  savage,  who  had  never  known  the  re- 
straints of  civilized  life,  and  the  pirate,  who  had 
broken  the  bonds  of  society,  were  alike  the  ob- 
jects of  British  conciliation  and  alliance^  for  the 
purposes  of  an  unparalleled  warfare.  A  horde 
of  pira<cs  and  outlaws  had  formed  a  confederacy 
and  establishment  on  the  island  of  Barrataria^ 
near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Missisippi.  Will  Eu- 
rope believe,  that  the  commander  of  the  British 
forces,  addressed  the  leader  of  the  eonfederacy, 
from  the  neutral  territory  of  Pensacola,  «  calling 
upon  him,  with  his  brave  follewere,  to  enter  into 

*See  the  report  of  the  committee  of  house  of  represen- 
tatives, on  the  31st  of  July,  1819;  and  the  depositions 
and  documents  accompaoying  it. 

f  See  the  official  report  of  Mr.  Baker,  the  agent  for  the 
priseners,  to  brigadier  general  Winchester,  dated  the 
26th  February,  1813. 

ij-In  addition  ta  this  description  of  sa'/^ge  warfare  un- 
der British  a  ispi^  es,  see  the  facts  contained  in  the  cor- 
respondence I'l^cyeen  gen.  Harrison  amd  £(€n.  Drummoxid. 


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92 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


the  service  of  Great  Britain,  in  wbich  lie  should 
have  the  rank  of  captain  ;  promising  that  lands 
should  be  giren  to  them  all,  in  proportion  to  their 
respective  ranks,  on  a  peace  taking  pla«e  ^  as- 
suring them,  that  their  property  should  be  guar- 
anteed, and  their  persons  protected ;  and  asking, 
in  return,  that  they  would  cease  all  hostilities  a- 
gainst  Spain,  or  the  allies  of  Great  Britain,  and 
plaee  their  ships  and  vessels  under  the  British 
commanding  officer  on  (hat  station,  itnti]  the  com- 
mander in  chief's  pleasure  should  he  known,  with 
a  guarantee  of  their  fair  value  at  p.ll  events."* 
There  wanted  only  to  exemplify  the  debasement 
of  such  an  act,  the  occurrence,  that  the  pirate 
ahotild  spurn  the  proffered  alliance  ;  and,  accor- 
dingly, Lafitte's  answer  was  indignantly  given,  by 
a  delivery  of  the  letter,  containing  the  British 
proposition,  to  the  American  governor  of  Louisi- 
ana. 

There  were  other  sources,  liowever,  of  support, 
which  Great  Britain  was  prompted  by  her  ven- 
geance to  employ,  in  opposition  to  the  plainest 
dictates  of  her  own  colonial  poliey.  The  events 
which  have  extirpated  ©r  dispersed  the  white  pop- 
ulation of  St.  Domingo,  are  in  the  r^eolleetion  of 
all  men.  Although  British  humanity  might  not 
shrink,  from  the  infliction  of  similar  calainitiea 
upon  the  southern  states  of  America,  the  danger 
of  that  course,  either  as  an  incitement  to  revolt, 
of  the  slaves  of  the  British  islands,  or  as  a  cause 
of  retaliation,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
ought  to  have  admonished  her  against  its  adop- 
tion. Yet,  in  a  formal  proclamation  issued  by 
the  commander  in  chief  of  his  Britannic  majesty's 
squadrons,  upon  the  American  station,  the  slaves 

*See  the  letter  addressed  by  Edward   Nichols,   lieut. 
colonel,  commanding  his  BritaRnic  majesty's  force  in  the  , 
the  Floridas,  to  Monsieur  Lafite,  or  the  commandaut  at 
^arratam,  dated  the  31st  vf  August,  1814. 


rl 
si 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


93 


lieir 
as- 
ap. 


of  the  American  planters  ^cre  invited  to  join  tho 
British  standard,  in  a  covert  phraseology,  that 
afforded  hut  a  slight  veil  for  the  real  design.— - 
Thus,  admiral  Cochrane,  reciting,  <«  that  it  had 
been  represented  to  him,  tha^.  many  persons  nov^ 
resident  in  the  United  States,  had  expressed  a  de- 
sire to  withdraw  therefrom,  with  a  view  to  enter 
into  his  majestifs  se/viee,  or  of  being  received  as 
Jree  setilers  into  some  of  his  majesty's  colonies," 
procla'med,  that  "  all  those  wIjo  might  be  dispos- 
ed to  emigrate  from  the  United  States,  would  be, 
with  their  families,  received  on  board  of  his  maj- 
esty's ships  or  vessels  of  war,  or  at  the  militai^ 
posts  that  might  be  established  upon  or  near  the 
eoast  of  the  United  States,  when  they  would  have 
their  choice  of  either  entering  into  his  majesty's 
sea  or  land  forees,  or  of  beicg  sent  as  free  settlers 
lo  Ihe  British  possessions  in  North  America,  or 
the  West  Indies,  where  ihay  would  meet  all  due 
eaeouragement.""^  But  even  the  negroes  seem, 
)n  cootenapt  or  disgust,  to  have  resisted  the  solie- 
itation  5  no  rebellion  or  massacre  ens^^ed  ;  and 
the  allegation,  often  repeated,  that  in  relation  to 
those  who  were  seduced,  or  forced,  from  the  ser- 
vice of  their  masters,  instances  have  occcurred  of 
some  being  afterwards  transported  to  the  British 
West  India  islands,  and  there  sold  into  slavery, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  captors,  remains  without 
contradiction.  So  complicated  an  act  of  injustice, 
would  demand  the  reprobation  of  mankind.  And 
let  the  British  government,  which  profess  a  just 
abhorrence  of  the  African  slave  trade  ;  which  en- 
deavors to  impose,  in  that  respect,  restraints  up- 
on the  policy  of  France,  Spain  and  Portugal ;  an- 
swer, if  it  can,  the  solemn  charge  against  their 
faith  and  their  humanity. 

*Bte  admiral  Gochrane's  proclamation,  dated  at  Ber-* 
muda,  the  2d«cf  April,  i814. 


94 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


§ 


m 


I 


3.  Great  Britain  has  violated  the  laws  of  civil- 
ized warfare,  by  plundering  private  property  ;  bv 
outraging  female  honor  ;  hy  burning  unprotected 
cities,  towns,  villages  and  houses  ;  and  by  laying 
waste  whole  districts  of  an  unresisting  country. 

The  menace  and  the  practice  of  the  British 
naval,  and  military  force,  "  to  destroy  and  lay 
waste  such  towns  and  districts  upon  the  American 
coast,  as  might  be  found  assailable,''  have  been 
executed  upon  the  pretext  of  retaliation,  for  the 
wanton  destruction  committed  by  the  American 
army  in  Upper  Canada  ;-\  but  the  fallacy  of  4he 
pretext  has  already  been  exposed.  It  will  be-^ re- 
collected, however  that  the  act  of  burning  New- 
ark was  instantaneously  disavowed  by  the  Amer- 
iean  government ;  that  it  occured  in  December^ 
1813 — and  that  sir  George  Prevost  himself  ac- 
knowledged, on  the  10th  of  February,  1814,  that 
the  measure  of  retaliation  for  all  previously  im- 
puted misconduct  of  the  American  troops,  was 
then  full  and  complete.:):  Between  the  month  of 
February,  1814,  when  that  acknowledgement  was 
made,  and  the  month  of  August,  1814,  when  the 
British  admiral's  denunciation  was  issued,  what 
are  the  outrages  upon  the  part  of  the  American 
troops  in  Canada,  to  justy  a  call  for  retaliation  ? 
No  :  it  was  the  system,  not  the  incident,  of  the 
ivar — and  intelligence  of  the  system  had  been  re- 
ceived at  Washington,  from  the  American  agents 
in  Europe,  with  reference  to  the  operation,  of  ad- 
miral Warren  upon  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake, 
long  before  admiral  Cochrane  had  succeeded  to 
the  command  of  the  British  fleet  on  the  Americaa 
station. 

f  See  admiral  Cochrane's  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe,  dated 
August  18,  1814. 

tSee  sir  George  Prevost's  letter  to  general  Wilkinson, 
dattd  the  lOtti  of  February,  1814 , 


a 
a 

f 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


95 


(isli 
lay 


As  an  appropriate  introduction  to  the  kijyj^l  of 
war,  ^'hich  Great  Britain  intended  to  Avage 
against  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States,  trans- 
actions occurred  in  England,  under  the  avowed 
direction  of  the  government  itself,  that  could  not 
fail  to  wound  the  moral  sense  of  every  candid  and 
generous  spectator.  All  the  officers  and  mariners 
of  American  merchant  ships,  who,  having  lost 
their  vessels  in  other  places,  had  gone  to  England 
on  the  way  to  America  ;  or  who  had  been  em- 
ployed in  British  merchant  ships,  but  were  desir- 
ous of  returning  home,  or  who  had  been  detained 
in  consequence  of  the  condemnation  of  their  ves*- 
sels  under  the  British  orders  in  council ;  or  who 
had  arrived  in  England,  through  any  of  the  other 
casualities  of  the  seafaring  life  ;  were  condemned 
to  )Ue  treated  as  prisoners  of  war ;  nay,  some  of 
them  were  actuary  impressed,  while  soliciting 
their  passports  ;  ^ilthough  not  one  of  their  num- 
ber had  been,  in  any  way,  engaged  in  hostilities 
against  Great  Britain  ;  although  the  American 
government  had  afforded  every  facility  to  the  de- 
parture of  the  same  class,  as  well  as  of  every  oth- 
er class,  of  British  subjeets^  from  the  United 
States,  for  a  reasonable  period  after  the  declara- 
tion of  war.  =^  But  this  act  of  injustice,  for  which 
even  the  pretext  of  retaliation  has  not  been  ad- 
vanced, was  accompanied  by  another  still  greater 
cruelty  and  oppression.  The  American  seamen^ 
who  had  been  enlisted  or  impressed,  into  the  na- 
val service  of  Great  Britain,  were  long  retained^ 
and  many  of  them  are  yet  retained,  on  board  of 
British  ships  of  war,  where  they  are  compelled  to 
combat  against  their  country  and  against  their 

*See  Mr.  Beasiey's  correspondence  with  the  British 
government,  in  October,  November,  and  Dec.  1812. 

See,  also,  the  act  of  congress,  passed  the  6th  of  July 
1812. 


if; 


9$ 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


friends  :  and  even  when  Ihc  Biitish  gov«rniijent 
tardily  and  reluctantly  recognized  the  oitizenship 
of  impicssed  Americans^  to  a  number  exceeding 
1000  at  a  single  naval  station^  and  dismissed  them 
from  its  service  on  the  water  ;  it  vms  only  to  im^ 
inure  them  as  prisoners  of  war  on  the  shores— 
These  unfortunate  persons,  who  had  passed  into 
the  power  of  the  British  government,  by  a  viola- 
tion of  their  own  rights  and  inelinations,  as  well 
as  of  the  rights  of  their  country,  and  who  could  on- 
ly be  regarded  as  the  spoils  of  unlawful  violence, 
were,  nevertheless,  treated  as  the  fruits  of  lawful 
war.  Such  was  the  indemniiication,  which  Great 
Britain  oifcred  for  the  wrongs,  that  she  had  in- 
flicted ;  and  such  the  reward,  which  she  bestow- 
ed, for  the  services  that  she  had  rcceived.f 

Nor  has  the  spirit  of  British  warfare  been  con- 
fined to  violations  of  the  usagot^  of  civilized  na^ 
lions,  in  relation  to  the  United  States.  The  sys- 
tem of  blockade,  by  orders  in  council,  has  been 
revived  ,  and  the  American  coast,  from  Maine  to 
Louisiana,  has  been  declared  by  the  proelauiation 
of  a  British  admiral,  to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade, 
which  every  day's  observation  proves  to  be,  prac- 
tically, inetir«etiial,  and  which,  indeed,  the  whole 
of  the  British  navy  would  be  unable  to  enforce 
and  maintain. :|:  Neither  the  orders  in  council^ 
acknowledged  to  be  generally  unlawful,  autl  de- 
clared to  be  merely  retaliatory  upon  France  ;  nor 
the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees,  Avhieh  placed  iho 
British  islands  in  a  state  of  blockade,  without  the 
force  of  a  single  squadron  to  maintain  it ;  were, 
in  principle,  more  injurious  to  the  rights  of  nea- 

fSee  the  letter  from  Mr.  Beasley,  to  Mr.  M'Leay,  da- 
ted the  13th  of  March,  1816. 

it-See  the  successive  blockades  announced  by  the  Brit- 
ish government,  and  the  successive  naval  commanders 
on  the  American  station. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


9r 


im> 


ivh\  commerce^  tlian  the  cxistin^i^  blocliade  of  <hc 
UniUd  SUtes,  The  reviva).  UK^rvfore,  of  the 
systom^  ivithout  the  retaliatovy  prVUwt,  inusl  de- 
monstrate ;o  the  ¥^orld,  a  (l^'tcituinalion  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain,  to  acquire  a  coniiucrciu! 
monopoly,  by  every  demonstration  of  her  naval 
power.  The  trade  of  the  United  States  v>ith 
Hussia^  and  ^ith  other  northern  powers,  by 
whose  governments  no  edicts,  violating  neutral 
rights,  had  been  issuedy.was  cut  oSt  by  the  opera- 
tion of  the  British  orders  in  council  of  the  year 
1807,  as  efieetually  as  their  trade  with  Franco 
and  her  allies,  although  the  retaliatory  principle 
was  totally  inapplicable  to  the  case.  And  the 
blockade  of  the  year  ISl'Jt,  is  an  attempt  to  de- 
stroy the  trade  of  those  nation9>  and  indeed,  of 
all  the  other  nations  of  £urope,  with  the  United 
States ;  while  Great  Britain,  herself,  with  the 
same  policy  and  ardor,  that  marked  her  illicit 
trade  with  France,  when  France  washer  encmy^ 
encourages  a  clandestine  traffic  between  her  sub- 
jects and  the  American  citizens,  wherever  her 
possessions  come  in  conti^ct  with  the  territory  o£ 
the  tJnited  States. 

But  approaching  nearer  to  the  seencs  of  plun- 
der and  violence,  of  eruelty  and  conflagration,, 
which  the  British  warfare  exhibits  on  the  coasts 
of  the  United  States,  it  must  be  again  asked, 
'what  acts  of  the  American  government,  of  its 
ships  of  war,  or  of  its  armies,  had  occurred,  or 
were  even  alleged,  as.a  pretext  for  the  perpetra- 
tion of  this  series  of  outrages?  It  will  not  be  as- 
serted, that  they  were  sanctioned  by  the  usages, 
of  mode;*nwar  ;  because  the  sense  of  all  Europe 
would  revolt  at  the  assertion*  it  will  not  tj(e  said, 
that  they  were  the  unauthorised  excesses  of  the 
British  troops  ;  because  scarcely  ao  act  of  phm- 
^er  and' violence,  of  cruelty  atrd  eo-nflagration, 
lias  been  committed,  except  in  the  ]mmedi!iit<> 
presence^  under  the  positive  orde^s^  and  with  f!ji 

I 


ii 


98 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


personal  agency,  of  BrUisli  officers.  It  must  not 
be  again  insilnuatedf  that  tlicy  nvere  provoked  by 
tlio  American  example  ^  because  it  bas  been  de-* 
inonstrated,  that  all  such  insinuations  are  ^vith-^ 
out  color,  and  without  proof.  And,  after  all,  the 
dreadful  and  disgraceful  progress  of  ihe  British 
arms,  will  be  traced,  as  the  eifect  of  that  anirnos- 
ity,  arising  out  of  recollections  connected  with 
the  American  revolution,  which  has  already  been 
noticed  ;  or,  as  the  effect  of  that  Jealousy,  which 
the  commercial  enterprise,  and  native  resources^' 
of  the  United  States,  arc  calculated  (o  excite^  in 
the  councils  of  a  nation,  aiming  at  universal  do- 
minion upon  the  ocean. 

In  the  month  of  April,  1813,  the  inhabitants  of 
Poplar  island,  in  the  bay  of  Chesapeake^  vrerc 
pillaged^  and  the  cattle,  and  other  live  stock  of 
the  farmers,  beyond  what  the  enemy  could  re- 
move, were  Nvantonly  killt  d.'''' 

In  the  same  month  of  April,  the  wharf,  the 
store,  amd  the  fishery,  at  French  town  landing, 
were  destroyed,  and  the  private  stores,  and  store 
houses,in  the  village  of  Frenchtown,  were  burnt. f 

In  the  same  month  of  April,  the  euemy  landed 
repeatedly  ol  Sharp's  island,  and  made  a  general 
sweep  of  the  stock,  aifecting,  however,  to  pay  for 
a  part  of  it.:j: 

On  the  3d  day  of  May,  1813,  the  town  of  Ha- 
vre  de  Grace  was  pillaged  and  burnt,  by  a  force 
under  the  command  of  admiral  Cockburn.  The 
British  officers,  being  admonished,  «  that  with 
civilized  nations  at  war.  private  property  bad  al- 
ways been  respected,'*  hastily  replied,  *'  that 
as  the  Americans  wanted  war,  they  should  now 
feel  its  effects ;  and  that  the  town  should  be  laid 

*See  tbe  deposition  o^  William  Sears. 
fSee  the  deposition  of  Frisby  Anderson  and  Cordelia 
Pennington. 
:|:See  Jacob  Gibson's  deposition. 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


99 


not 
I  by 
de- 
ith. 
the 
ish 


ill  ashes.'*  They  broke  the  windows  of  the  church  ; 
they  purlomed  the  houses  of  the  furniture  ;  they  strip- 
ped women  and  children  of  their  clothes  ;  ana  when 
an  unfortunate  female  complained,  that  she  could  not 
ICXYC  her  house  with  her  little  children,  she  was  un- 
feelingly told,  "  that  her  house  should  be  burnt  with 
herself  and  children  in  it."* 

On  the  6th  of  May,  1813,  Fredericktown  and 
Geargetown,  situated  on  Sassafras  river,  in  the  state  of 
Maryland,  were  pillaged  and  burnt,  and  the  adjacent 
country  was  laid  waste,  by  a  force  under  the  conimancl 
of  admiral  Cockburn  ;  and  the  officers  >yere  the  xnoji 
active  on  the  occasion. | 

'  On  the  2 2d  of  June,  1813,  the  British  forces  made  an 
a  ttack  on  Craney  Island,  with  a  view  to  take  possession 
of  ^Vorfoik,  which  the  commanding  officers  had  prom- 
ised in  case  of  success,  to  give  up  to  the  plunder  of 
the  troops.:!:  The  British  were  repulsed  ;  but  enrage'd 
V)y  defeat  and  disappointment,  their  course  \ras  directed 
to  Hampton,  which  they  entered  on  the  of  Jane. 
The  scene,  that  ensued,  exceeds  all  power  of  descrip- 
tion J  and  a  detail  of  facts  would  be  offensive  to  the  feel- 
ings of  decorum^as  well  as  of  humanity.  ''  A  defence- 
less and  unresisting  town  was  given  up  to  indiscrimi- 
nate pillage  ;  though  civilized  war  tolerates  this  only, 
as  to  fortified  places  carried  by  assault,  and  after  sum- 
mons. Individuals,  male  and  female,  were  stripped 
naked  ;  a  sick  man,  was  stabbed  twice  in  the  hospital  V 
another  sick  man  was  shot  in  Ms  bed,  in  the  arms  of 
his  wife,  who  was  also  wounded,  long  after  the  retreat 
of  the  A.merican  troops  ;  and  females,  the  married  and 
the  single,  suffered  the  extremity  of  personal  abuse 
from  the  troqps  of  the  enemy,  and  from  the  infatuated 

*3ee  the  deposition  of  William  T.  Kilpatrick,  James 
Wood,  Rosanna  Moore  and  R.  Mansfield, 

fSee  the  depbsi.ians  of  John  Stavely,  William  Spencer, 
Joshua  Ward,  James  Scanlan,  Richard  Barnaby,  F.  B. 
Chandlear,  Jonathan  Greenwood,  John  Allen,  T.  Rcbert- 
^on,  M  N.  Gannon,  and  J.  T,  Veasey. 

4:3ee  gen.  Taylor's  letter  to  the  secretary  at  war,  dated 
the  2d  of  July,  1813. 


100 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


nfegroes,  at  their  instigation."*  The  fact  that  thcift  at- 
trocitie*  were  committed,  the  commander  of  the  Brit- 
ish fleet,  admiral  Warren,  and  the  commander  of  the 
British  troops,  sir  Sidney  Beckwith,  admitted  without 
he9itation,t  but  they  resorted,  ds  on  other  occasions, 
to  the  unavailing  pretext  of  a  j  iistifiable  retaliation.  It 
"was  said,  by  the  British  general,  "  that  the  excesses  at 
Hampton  were,  occasioned  by  an  occurrence,  at  the  re- 
cent attempt  upon  Craiaiy  Island,  when  the  British 
troops  in  a  barge,  sunk  by  the  American  guns,  clung  to 
the  wreck  of  the  boat ;  but  several  Americans  waded 
off  from  the  Island,  fired  upon  and  shot  these  men.** 
The  tritth  of  the  assertion  was  denied  ;  the  net,  if  it 
had  been  perpetrated  by  the  American  troops,  was 
promptly  disavowed  by  their  commander  ;  and  a  board 
of  of&cers  appointed  to  investigate  the  facts,  after  stat- 
ing the  evidence,  repoi'ted  "  an  unbiased  opinion,  that 
•the  charge  against  the  American  troops  vrixs  unsup- 
ported ;  and  that  the  chai^cter  of  the  American  sol- 
diery for  humanity  and  magnanimity,  had  not  been  com- 
mitted, but  on  the  contrary  conf\rmed."4^  The  result 
of  the  enquiry  was  communicated  to  the  British  gen- 
eral; repuration  was  dencvanded  ;  but  it  was  soon  per- 
ceive hat  whatever  might  personally  be  the  liberal 
disposu.w^na  of  that  officer,  no  adequate  reparation  could 

*See  the  letters  f'om  gcneralTaylor  to  admiral  War- 
ren, dated  the  29i-hof  Jane,  I8I0,  to  gen.  sir  Sidney  Beck- 
with, dated  the  4trt  and  5th  of  July,  1813  ;  to  the  secre- 
tary of  war,  dated  the  2J  of  July,  1813;  and  to  captain 
Myers,  of  the  last  dnte. 

See,  alao,the  letter  from  mr?jor  rrutG>>iield  to'govern- 
or  Barbour,  dated  the  20th  of  June,  ^BX:\ ;  the  letters  from 
tapt.  Cooper  to  Hen'.enaut  governcr  Mnllory,  dated  in 
July,  1813  ;  the  report  of  Messrs.  Griffii  an  1  Lively,  to 
rnaj  )r  Crutchfield,  dated  the  4th  of  July,  1813  ^  and  coK 
Varker'a  pablieatlon  in  the  Enquirer. 

■fSee  admiral  Warren's  letter  to  gen.  Taylor,  dated  the 
2ii:n  of  June,  1813  ;  sir  Sidney  Bsckwith's  Vetter  to  gen. 
Tay4or,  dated  the  same  day  ;  and  the  report  of  oaptahi 
^eyrs  to  gen.  Taylor,  of  July,  2d  1313. 

^:See  the  rep  >rt  ©f  the  proceedings  of  the  board  of  offi- 
cers, appointed  by  the  general  order,  of  the  1st  of  July, 
XS13. 


b 

ai 


AMttltCAN  EiXPOSE. 


101 


1 

bd  tnade,  as  the   conduct  of  his  troops  was  directed 
and  sanctioned  by  his  government.* 

Durino;  the  period  ut'  these  transactions,  th«  vil- 
lage ot"  Lfcwistown,  near  the  capes  of  the  Dclawarcf  in- 
habited cliietly  by  fiaiicrmen  and  pilots,  and  the  village 
of  Stonington,  seated  upon  the  snores  of  Connecticut, 
were  Unsuccefestully  bombarded.  Armed  parties,  led 
by  ofliccrs  of  rank,  landed  daily  from  the  British  squad- 
ron, making  predatory  incitrsions  into  the  open  coun- 
try :  rifling  and  burning  the  houses  and  cottages  of 
peaceable  and  retired  families,  pillaging  the  produce  of 
the  planter  and  the  frirmer  ;  (their  tobacco,  their  grain, 
and  their  cattle  ;)  commiuint?  violence  on  the  persons 
of  the  unprotected  inhabitants  ;  seizing  upon  slaves, 
wherever  they  could  be  found,  as  booty  of  war  ;  and 
breaking  open  the  coffins  of  the  dead,  in  search  of  plun- 
der, or  committing  robbery  on  the  altars  of  a  church, 
at  Chapticoj  St;  Inigoes,  and  Tappabannocki  with  a 
sacrilegious  race: 

But  the  consummation  of  British  outrage,  yet  re- 
mains to  be  stated,  from  the  awful  and  imperishable 
memorial  of  the  capital  atVVashington.lt  has  been  already 
observed,  that  the  massacre  of  the  American  prisoners 
at  the  river  Raisin,  occUri'ed  in  January,  1813  ;  that 
throughout  the  same  year^  the  desolating  warfare  of 
Great  Britain^  without  once  alledging  a  retaliatory  ex- 
cuse, made  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake^  and  of  its 
tributary  rivers,  a  general  scene  of  ruirt  ttnd  distress  ; 
and  that  in  the  month  of  February,  1814,  sir  George 
Provost  himSelf,  acknowledged,  that  the  measiit*es  of 
retaliation,  for  the  unauthorised  biirnitig  oif  Newark, 
in  December,  1813,  and  for  all  the  ex-cesses  which  hstd 
been  imputed  to  the  American  iirmy,  was,  at  that  timc^ 
full  and  complete.  The  United  States,  indeed^  re- 
garding what  waiS  due  to  their  own  character,  rather 
than  what  was  diie  to  the  conduct  of  their  erierhj^,  had 
forborne  to  authorise  a  just  retribiitioa;  and  even  dis- 
dained to  place  the  destruction  of  Newark  to  retciliato- 

*S?e  gen.  Taylor's  letter  to  sir  S^d^.eV  Beckwitki  dated 
the  5th  of  July,  1813;  and  the  aoSwer  of  the  follow- 
ing day. 

'    I2 


1103 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


ry  account;  for  the  general  pillage  and  conflagratioPiT 
which  had  been  previously  perpetrated.  It  was  not 
without  astonishment,  therefore,  that  after  more  than  a 
year  of  patient  suffering,  they  heard  it  announced  iu 
August,  1814,  that  the  towns  and  districts  upon  their 
coast,  were  to  be  destroyed  and  laid  waste,  in  revenge 
for  the  unspecified  and  unknown  acts  of  destruction,, 
which  were  charged  against  the  American  troops  in 
Upper  Canada.  The  letter  of  admiral  Cochrane  was 
dated  on  the  18th,  but  it  was  not  received  until  the  31st 
of  August,  1814.  In  the  intermediate  time,  the  enemy 
debarked  a  body  of  about  five  or  six  thousand  troops 
at  Benedict,  on  the  Patuxent,  and  by  a  sudden  and 
stca(Hy  march  through  Bladensburg,  approached  the 
city  of  Washington.  This  city  has  been  selected  for 
the  seat  of  the  American  government;  but  the  num- 
ber of  its  houses  does  not  exceed  nine  hundred,  spread 
iBver  an  extensive  scite  ;  the  whole  number  of  its  in- 
liabitants  does  net  exceed  eight  thousand  ;  and  the  ad- 
jacent country  is  thinly  populated.  Although  the  ne- 
cessary precautions  had  been  ordered,  to  assemble  the 
militia  for  the  defence  of  the  city,  a  variety  of  eauses 
combined  to  render  the  defence  unsuccessful  y  and  the 
enemy  took  possession  of  Washington  on  the  evening 
cf  the  24th  of  August,  1814.  The  commanders  of  the 
British  force  held  at  that  time  admiral  Cochrane's  des* 
dating  order,  although  it  was  then  unknown  to  the  gov- 
ernment and  people  of  the  United  States  y  but  con- 
sc^pijis  of  the  danger  cf  so  distant  a  separation  of  the 
British  ileet,  and  desiroi'is,  by  every  plausible  artifice, 
to  deter  the  citizeRS  from  flying  to  arms  against  the  in- 
vaders, they  disavowed  all  design  of  injuring  private 
perfiK>|;i6  and  property,  and  gave  assurances  of  protec- 
tion, whe.'eyer  thej'c  was  submission.  General  Ross 
and  admiral  Cockburn  then  proceeded  in  person  to  di- 
rect and  superintend  the  bM«ness  of  conflagration  ;  ia 
»  place,  which  hjid  yielded  tp  their  arms,  which  was 
unfortified,  and  by  which  no  hostility  was  threatened. 
They  set  fire  te  the  capitol,  within  whose  walls  were 
contained  the  hialls  qf  the  congress  of  the  United 
Sit^ites,  the  hall  of  their  highest  tribunal  for  the  ad- 
i^O^stration  of  juatlce,  the  archives  of  the  legislaim;^? 


T^ 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


10^ 


tioprr 
not 
an  SI 
d  ill 

ngc 
ion^ 
in 
was 
31st 
my 
ops 
md 
the 
for 

ira- 

cad 

in- 

ad- 

ne- 

the 

ises 

the 

ing 

the 

es* 

3n- 
he 


and  the  national  library.  They  set  fire  to  the  edifice, 
which  the  United  States  had  erected  for  the  residence 
of  their  chief  magistrate.  And  they  set  fire  to  the 
costly  and  extensive  building,  erected  for  ihe  accom- 
modation of  the  principal  officers  of  the  government, 
in  the  tra^iS&ction  of  the  public  business.  These  mag« 
nificent  monuments  of  the  progress  of  the  arts,  which 
America  had  borrowed  from  her  parent  Europe,  with 
all  the  tesUraonials  of  taste  and  literature  which  they 
contained,  were  on  the  .aemorable  night  of  the  14th  of 
August,  consigned  to  the  ftames,  while  British  officers 
of  high  rank  and  command,  united  with  their  troops  in 
riotous  carousal,  by  the  light  of  the  burning  pile. 

But  the  character  of  the  iiicendiary  had  so  entirely 
superseded  the  character  cf  the  soldier  on  this  unpar- 
alleled expedition,  that  a  great  portion  of  the  mui>'  ion* 
of  war,  which  had  net  been  cons'pned,  when  the  navy 
yard  was  ordered  to  be  destroyed  ii^  on  the  approrch  of 
the  British  troops,  were  left  unto  ached,  and  an  exten- 
sive foundery  of  cannon,  adjoining  iuc  city  of  Washing- 
ton, was  left  uninjured  |  when,  in  the  night  of  Uie  25th 
of  August,  the  army  sudidenly  decamped,  and  returning, 
with  evident  marks  of  precipitation  and  alarms  to  their 
ships,  left  the  interment  of  their  dead,  and  the  care  of 
their  wounded,  to  the  enemy  ;  whom  they  had  thus  in- 
jured and  insulted,  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  civilized 
war. 

The  counterpart  of  the  scene  exhibited  by  the  Brit- 
ish army,  was  next  exhibited  by  the  British  navy. 
Soon  after  the  midnight  flight  of  general  Ross  from 
Washington, a  squadron  of  British  ships  of  war  as- 
cended on  the  Potomac,  and  reached  the  town  of  Al- 
exandria on  the  27th  of  August,  1814.  The  magis- 
trates, presJiiming  that  the  general  destruction  of  the 
town  was  intended,  a«ked  on  what  terms  it  might  be 
saved.  The  naval  commander  declared,  that  the  only 
conditions  in  his  power  to  offer,  we#e  such  as  required 
not  only  a  surrender  of  all  naval  and  ordnance  stores  j 
(public  and  private)  but  of  all  the  shipping  ;  and  of  all 
merchandize  in  the  city,  as  well  as  such  as  had  been 
removed  since  the  I9th  of  August."  The  conditions, 
therefore,  amouRtod  to  4h«  entire  plumkw  «f  Ai«>iM>^ 


164 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE; 


drift,  an  unfortified  and  unresisting  town,  ih  order  id 
save  the  buildings  from  destruction.  Tiie  capitula- 
tion was  made  ;  and  the  enemy  bore  away  the  fruiti 
of  his  predatory  enterprise^  in  triumph; 

But  even  while  this  narrative  is  passing  from  the 
press,  a  new  retaliatory  pretext  has  .  been  formed,  to 
cover  the  disgrace  of  the  scene,  which  was  transacted 
at  Washington;  In  the  address  of  the  governor  in 
chief  to  the  provincial  parliament  of  Canada,  on  the 
24tb  of  January,  1815,  it  is  asserted,  in  ambiguous 
language,  "  that,  ad  a  just  retribution,  the  proud  capi- 
tol  at  Washington,  has  experienced  a  similar  fate  to 
that hiflicted  by  an  American  force  ow /Ae  seat  of  gov- 
trnment  in  Upper  Canada."  The  town  of  York,  in  Up- 
per Canada^  was  taken  by  the  Amercan  army  under  the 
com r»i and  of  general  Dearborn,  on  the  27th  of  April, 
1813,*  and  it  was  evacuated  on  the  succeeding  1st  of 
May  ;  although  it  was  again  visited  for  a  day,  by  an 
American  squadron,  under  the  command  bi  commo- 
dore Chauncey,  on  the  4th  ol  August. f  At  the  time  of 
the  capture,  the  enemy  bn  his  retreat  set  fire  to  his 
magazine,  and  the  injury  produced  by  the  explosion 
was  great  and  extensive  ;  but  neither  then  or  on  the 
tisitofcomraodoreChauncey,  was  any  edifice,  which 
had  been  erected  for  civil  uses,  destroyed  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  military  or  natal  commander  ^  and  the 
destruction  of  such  edific<:s,  by  any  part  of  th«ir  force,' 
would  haive  been  a  direct  violation  of  the  positive  or- 
ders which  they  had  issued.  On  both  occassions,  in- 
deed, the  public  stores  of  the  enemy  \^ere  authorised  to 
be  seized,  anc>  his  public  store-houses  to  be  burnt ;  but 
it  is  known  that  ptivate  persons,  houses,  and  property, 
were  left  uninjured.  If,  therefore,  sir  George  Prevost 
deems  such  acts  inflected  on  "  the  seat  of  government 
in  Upper  Cana;da"  ^milartothe  acts  which  were  per- 
petrated at  Washington,  he  has  yet  to  perform  the 
task  of  tracing  the  ftaturcEt  of   similarity  ;    since,  at 

•  See  the  letters  fromi  general  Dearborn  to  the  secre- 
tary of  war,  dated  the  27th  and  18th  ©f  April,  1813. 

fScethe  letter  frbm  commodore  Chauncey  to  the  sepV. 
iftUry  %A  tke  SMtvy^  4ate4  the  4tb  of  August,  1813. 


AMERICAN  EK;I*®SE. 


I  as 


r  id 


the 

to 


Washington  thepublic  edifiGes  which  had  been  erected 
for  civil  usesy  wtire  alone  destroyed^  while  the  muni- 
tions of  wary  and  the  fbundaries  of  cannon,  remained 
untouched.  K 

If,  hawever>  it  be  meant  to  affirm,  that  the'^jtiblic  ed- 
ifices, occupied  by  the  leg;islature,  by  the  chief  map^is* 
trate,by  the  courts  of  justice,  and  by  the  civil  func- 
tionaries of  the  province  of  Upper  Canada,  with  the 
provincial  library,  were  destroyed  by  the  American 
force,  it  is  an  occurrence  which  has  never  before  been 
presented  to  the  view  of  the  American  government  by 
its  own  officers,  as  a  matter  of  information  ;  nor  by  any 
of  the  military  or  civil  authorities  of  Canada  as  mat- 
ters of  complaint ;  it  is  an  occurrence  wliich  no  Amer- 
iopn  commander  had  in  any  degree  authorised  ^r  ap- 
proved ;  and  it  is  an  occurrence  wkich  the  American 
government  would  have  ceneured  and  repaired  with 
equal  promptitude  and  liberality. 

"But  a  tale  told  thus  out  of  date,  for  a  special  pur- 
pose, cannot  command  the  confidence  of  the  intelligent 
and  the  candid  auditor  ;  for,  even  if  the  fact  of  con- 
flagration be  true,  suspicion  must  attend  the  cause  for 
so  long  a  concealment,  with  motives  s©  strong  for  an 
immediate^isclosure.  When  sir  George  Prevost,  in 
February,  18 14,  acknowledged,  that  the  measure  of  re- 
taliation was  full  and  complete,  for  all  the  preceding 
misconduct  imputed  to  the  A.merican  troops,  was  hie 
not  apprised  of  every  fact,  which  ha€l  occurred  at  York, 
the  capital  of  Upper  Canada,  in  the  months  of  April 
and  Auj^ust,  18^13  ?  Yet.  neither  then,  nor  at  any  ante- 
cedent period,  nor  until  the  24th  January,  181 5,  was 
the  slightest  intimation  given  of  the  retaliatory  pretext, 
which  i's  now  oifered.  When  the  admirals  Warren 
and  Cochrane  were  employed  in  piH|iging  and  burninf^ 
the  villages  on  the  shores  of  the  Chesiapeake,  were  net 
all  the  retaliatory  pretexts  for  the  barbarous  warfare 
knov/n'to  those  commanders?  And  yet,  H  the  fate  in- 
flicted by  an  American  force  on  the  seat  of  govei'nment 
in  Upper  Canada,"  wtis  never  sugigested  in- justification 
or  excuse  ;  and,  finally,  when  the  expedient  was  form- 
ed, in  August,  1814,  for  the  destruction  of  the  public 
edifices  -at   Washington,   was  not   the  "  ^milar  ftcte 


106 


AMfeiilCAN  EXPOSE. 


\¥hich  had  been  inflicted  by  an  American  force  on  the 
seat  of  government  in  Upper  Canada/'  known  to  ad- 
mi»*al  Cochrane,  as  well  as  to  sir  George  Prevost,  who 
called  upon  the  admiral  (it  is  alledged)  to  carry  into 
<^frect>^i»iasure8  of  retaliation,  against  the  inhabitants 
of  the  United  States  ? — And  yet,  both  the  call  and  com- 
pliance, are  fouaded  (not  upon  the  destruction  of  the 
public  edifices  at  York,  but)  upon  the  wanton  destruc- 
tion committed  by  the  American  army  in  Upper  Can- 
ada, upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  province,  for  whom 
alone  reparation  was  demanded. 

An  obscurity,  then,  dwells  upon  the  fact  alleged  by 
sir  George  Prevost,  which  has  not  been  dissipated  by 
enquiry.  Whether  any  public  edifice  was  improper- 
ly destroyed  at  York,  or  at  what  period  the  injury 
.was  done,  if  done  stall,  and  by  what  hand  it  was  in- 
flicted, are  points  that  ought  to  have  been  stated,  when 
the  charge  was  made  ;  surely  it  is  enough,  on  the  part 
of  the  American  government  to  repeat,  that  the  fact  al- 
ledged was  never  before  brought  to  its  knowledge,  for 
investigation,  disavowal,  or  reparation.  The  silence 
of  the  military  and  civil  officers  of  the  provincial  gov- 
ernmeut  of  Canada,  indicates,  too,  a  sense  of  shame,  or 
conviction  of  the  injustice  of  the  present  reproach.  It 
is  known,  that  there  could  have  been  no  other  public 
edifice  for  civil  uses  destroyed  in  Upper  Canada,  than 
the  house  of  the  provincial  legislature,  U  building  of  so 
little- cost  and  ornament,  as  hardly  to  merit  considera- 
tion ;  and  certainly  affording  neither  parallel  nor  apol- 
ogy, for  the  conflagration  of  the  splendid  structures, 
which  adorned  the  metropolis  of  the  United  Statues. 

If,  however,  that  house  was  itideed  destroyed,  may 
it  not  have  been  an  accidental  consequence  of  the  con- 
fusion, in  whith  the  explosion  of  the  magazine  involv- 
ed the  town  ?  Or,  perhaps  it  was  hastily  perpetrated 
by  some  of  the  enraged  trstops  in  the  moment  of  an- 
guish, for  the  loss  of  a  beloved  commander,  and  their 
companions,  wJio  had  been  killed  by  that  explosion, 
kindled  as  it  was  by  a  defeated  enemy,  for  the  sanguin- 
ary and  unavailing  purpose  :  Or,  in  fine,  some  suffer- 
ing individual,  remembering  the  slaughter  of  Ms  breth- 
ren at  the  river  Raisin,  and  exasperated  by  the  spccta- 


cl 

01 


AMERICAN  EXPOSE. 


107 


dofisof  a  human  scalp,  suspended  in  the  legislative 
chamber,  over  the  seat  of  the  speaker,  may,  in  theparJ 
oxisni  of  his  vengeance,  have  applied,  unauthorised, 
and  unseen,  the  torch  of  vengeance  and  destruction. 

Many  other  flagrant  instances  of  British  violence 
pillage,  and  conflagration!  in  defiance  of  the  laws  of' 
civilized  hostilities,  might  be  added  to  the  catalogue, 
which  has  been  exhibited  j  the  enumeration  would  be 
superfluous,  and  it  is  time  to  close  so  painful  an  ex- 
position of  the  causes  and  character  of  the  war.  The 
exposition  had  become  necessary  to  repel  and  refute 
the  charges  of  the  prince  regent,  when,  by  his  declara- 
tion of  January,  1813,  he  unjustly  states  the  United 
States  to  be  the  aggressors  in  the  war  ;  and  insulting- 
ly ascribes  the  conduct  of  the  American  government, 
to  the  influence  of  French  councils.  It  was  also  ne- 
cessary to  vindicate  the  course  ©f  the  United  States,  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  war  ;  and  to  expose  to  the  view 
of  the  world  the  system  of  hostilities^  which  the  Brit- 
ish government  has  pursued.  Having  aceomplished 
these  purposes,  the  American  government  recurs,with 
pleasure,  to  i  contemplation  .of  its  early  and  continued 
eflbrts  for  the  restoration  of  peace.  Notwithstanding 
the  pressure  of  the  recent  wrongs,  and  the  unfriendly 
and  illiberal  disposition,  which  Great  Britain  has,  at  aU 
times,  manifested  cowards  them,  the  United  States 
have  never  indulged  sentiments  incompatible  with  the 
reciprocity  of  good  will,  and  an  intercourse  of  mutual 
benefit  and  advantage. — They  can  never  repine,  at  see- 
ing the  British  nation  great,  prosperous,  and  happy, 
safe  in  its  maritime  rights,  t  ncl  powerful  in  its  means  of 
maintaining  them  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  they  can  ne- 
ver cease  to  desire,  that  the  councils  of  Great  Britain 
should  be  guided  by  justice,  and  a  respect  for  the  equal 
rights  of  ether  nations.  Her  maritime  power  may  extend 
to  all  the  legitimate  objects  of  her  sovereignty,  and 
her  commerce,  without  endangering  the  independence 
and  peace  of  every  other  government.  A  balance  of 
power,  in  this  respect,  is  as  necessary  on  the  ocean,  as 
on  the  land  ;  and  the  control  that  it  gives  to  the  nations 
of  the  world,  over  the  actions  of  each  other,  is  as  salu- 
tary in  its  opei-ation  to  the  individual  govemment,which 


>0f 


■ 


AJpfWCAH  EXPOSE. 


(e^lf^if,  as  to  aP  the  gov-emnaents,  by  whioH,  0,'ll|it,, 
jm^^KiiKii^lei  of  mutual  support,  and.  defence,  s|  map 
\^fi  ex«rr!Cia^    Qn  fair)  and  equal,  and  honorable  terms} 
ther,e£9|^'p«i%ce  ia- at  the  choice  of  Qreat  Britain;  hut, 
ifJt8||i^i^Vdft^rfnip^  Mpon  war,  the  United  Stat«&,  re - 
*^aing  upO|i  th^  justness  of  their  cause  5  upon  the  pa- 
triotiiMii  of, their  citizens  ;  upon  the  di9ting;ulshed  valor 
^  their  land  and  naval  farces  ;  and  above  all,  upon  the 
dbpensatlotiis  of  a  beneficent  Providence  ;  are  ready  to 
n^aintain  the  contest,  for  the  preservation  of  the  nation- 
al; indepeni^ence,\rith  the  same  energy  and  fortitude 
IKhich  v/ere  displayed  in  acquiring  itT 


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